New Beginning
by AvalonBay
Summary: -Sequel to Ready When You Are- A tragedy brings Avalon and Bailey to Reefside. But their past and present collide when Mesogog brings back and teams up with villains long thought to be destroyed. With the help of the new Dino Thunder power, present and past rangers re-live their greatest enemies to achieve their new beginning. Teams: DT & MMPR.
1. Chapter 1: Day of the Dino (1)

**_Avalon Series_**

 **All To Blame** • **Made Of Glass** • **These Walls** • **New Beginning**

Avalon Mitchell has always been a loner; always taking care of herself, and she wasn't afraid of anything. But her past and current mistakes make things hard for her when she transfers to Angel Grove High. Now she has to deal with working on a team along with keeping her secrets from them, knowing that if she is found out, her whole life would fall apart. Being part of the Angel Grove street gang, The Vipers, makes things harder for Avalon as she is constantly pulled in two different directions. The pressures of good vs. evil while battling her own demons has never been so strong and when it starts to affect everyone around her, she needs to figure out what's most important. _Tommy/Kim, Billy/Trini, Fred/Bailey, Jason/Avalon, Billy/Avalon, Rocky/Aisha, Adam/Sabrina, Adam/Tanya_ , _Tommy/Kat, Bailey/Conner/Kira._

* * *

 **New Beginning**

 **Full Summary – ** It was a tragic accident that brought Avalon to Reefside. But she's glad to see her brother again, though she wouldn't have guessed he'd end up as a science teacher at the local high school. Having moved in with Tommy and Bailey so the three could move past their tragedy Avalon soon finds herself facing her past for the final time after years of peace. Every step she takes next could bring down the future she carefully crafted for herself. Things get even crazier when she meets Tommy's three peculiar students. Being a ranger is in her blood and she was crazy to think it would ever let her go. Past and present collide when Mesogog teams up with past villains the rangers thought had been gone forever. With the help of the new Dino Thunder power, the rangers of old will have to relive their greatest fears to achieve their new beginning. Kat/ _Tommy/Kim, Billy/Avalon, Jason/Trini,_ _Rocky/Aisha, Adam/Tanya_ , _Bailey/Conner/Kira._

* * *

 **Chapter 01**

 _Day of the Dino (1)_

* * *

Dr. Tommy Oliver never thought he'd be an orphan.

To be honest it wasn't a thought that typically crossed anyone's mind. A fixture of sadness at a young age, a passing though when an adolescent, non-existent when an adult. People were made to believe that their parents lived forever and would live to become very old before their passing. However the message on his answering machine gave him the unfortunate news he had indeed become an orphan when he was only in his twenties. His parents weren't old by any means; they had just been driving at the wrong place at the wrong time.

That's what he had been told.

He still wasn't sure if he believed it.

The blinking red light on the answering machine was the only clue, but in his mind it was just a blinking red light; nothing more, nothing less. He had seen that light many times before; having become so busy teaching his students he wouldn't return phone calls or emails for days. Or maybe it was that he wouldn't remember. He never liked to admit that his memory still escaped him from time to time. He wasn't one that particularly enjoyed the new surge in technology, he was fine with the ways things had always been. It was easier that way.

Now people thought he could be reached whenever they wanted and talk about whatever they wanted.

As the case always was they wanted to interview the former ranger about his studies and experiments with Anton Mercer and his thoughts on the destruction of the island they used to work on. If not that, then he was questioned about his opinion on the power rangers, anyone that dug into his past a little knew he was from Angel Grove, home of the original team. He had always done his best not to smirk at the memories of foiling Rita's and Zedd's plans himself.

He had to keep that part of him hidden, much like the rest of his life.

He had hidden from his power ranger past as long as he could…It was the hiding from his past that had been the problem. Hiding so long that his past couldn't hold back anymore and it showed itself in that heartbreaking message he never thought he would receive.

 _"Tommy…it's…it's bad. Your parents…I'm sorry but…there was an accident. A car accident. The other driver was drunk. And…I'm sorry, but they didn't make it.…call me as soon as you get this. I'm sorry, man."_

That was all he allowed himself to listen to before he had deleted the message. What else did he need to know? When the funeral was? He was going to head out as soon as the week was over and he didn't have any more classes to teach. Where it was? There was no question about it. Who would attend….that was the only answer he didn't know.

There were so many people around him that had been so important in his life. But this funeral, no doubt, would only be for friends and family. His parents had been private people for the most part; he couldn't see them suddenly wanting everyone and their brother showing up.

It was a gray, rainy Sunday when the funeral had been held. It was only for family and extremely close friends. All his friends showed up; that's what he really wanted. And it really helped. Though a part of him wished none of them had shown up. They didn't need to see him when he was like that, they didn't need to see him weak. That would shatter the illusion that he was the leader, the one that bravely treaded the wasters of the countless monsters heading their way.

He barely held it together as he watched his mother's and father's caskets gets lowered into the ground, the shovelfuls of dirt get thrown on top over and over until the dirt was level with the ground he was standing on. He hadn't reacted; instead, he comforted his aunt, his mother's sister who had been completely broken up over the news. He finally found a moment to pass her off to his uncle before walking away from the crowd and glancing out at the many rows of gravestones.

They reminded him of putties. Of all of the patrollers they would have disintegrated within a few punches and kicks; turning to dust and flying away. But this was different, they hadn't turned to dust, they weren't going to blow away, and they weren't people that he wanted destroyed.

And yet it had happened because a drunken moron thought it was a good idea to have that one last beer on the way home.

Tommy's intense frown deepened as the wind continued to blow around them. It was going to rain soon. Maybe that would bring up his mood; he always had enjoyed the rain.

"Tommy?"

Twisting around at the accented voice, Tommy stared at two of the last people he thought he would see. The length of the flight, the last minute arrangements to be made, having to lose some important people in their lives…he hoped they wouldn't come. But as he watched, his adoptive sisters, Avalon and Bailey continued towards him, their dark clothes being pulled to the side from the harsh winds that continued to increase in speed, he was glad to see them.

Bailey at eighteen years old and standing a few inches taller than her elder sister reached Tommy first. Brushing away a tear, she opened her arms and wrapped them around her brother. Tommy hugged her back, tightly, looking at Avalon over her shoulder. She nodded back at him, arms crossed over her chest as if trying to protect herself.

Tommy continued to hug Bailey, as close as he was to his sisters, he had always been closer to Bailey than Avalon, having seen her as a little sister before they had been adopted. When Tommy felt it was a long enough hug he let go of Bailey and hugged Avalon.

She stepped back and tilted her head back to look up at her brother. "How ya going?" She asked.

Tommy managed a half smile. "I guess I should be asking you that," he said to her.

Avalon half smiled back at her. "I think we're used to people leaving us by now, mate," she said. Bailey laughed lightly, though it didn't reach her eyes. "We'll come good. We just have to figure out where we're going from here, I guess."

"No, you don't," Tommy said simply. He cleared his throat as his sisters exchanged a confused glance. "We talked about it before…back when we were still in Angel Grove. If something happened to Mom and Dad, then I'd take care of you two. I know we're pretty scattered right now…I want you to come live with me."

Bailey's eyes widened and she glanced at her sister, whose freckled cheek twitched. "Are you sure, bro? I mean, you haven't had us there except for that one summer and you nearly ripped your head off because we were 'too annoying'." She used air quotes around the words.

Tommy managed a full smile now. He looked down at his dark clothes. He had been red, green, and white. Black was such a foreign color to him.

"I'm sure," he said.

And that's how he found his sisters moving in with him a couple months later, after having all of his parents' things sorted out. Their boxes and bags got moved into two of the three guest rooms in his house and they had almost everything completely packed when the subject of school had come up. It was going to be his first day as a science teacher at Reefside High.

"Make sure you clear up your advanced classes once you get there, Bay," Avalon said as she looked over the school's brochure, having stolen it from the refrigerator. She flipped through the pages, looking over the glossy pictures of the campus. It reminded her of Angel Grove High in a way. The soccer fields and grassy areas for the students to hang out between classes reminded her of the times she and her friends would lounge around during lunch and their free periods, hanging out and laughing.

 _And that was only when we weren't dealing with Rita and Zedd on a daily basis,_ she thought.

Tommy, who had been sitting atop the kitchen counter, eating a bowl of cereal, raised an eyebrow. "I see you still haven't gotten over being the big sister in this whole equation even though I'm older than you."

"You better watch out, she's gonna do it to you, soon," Bailey said. She polished off her bowl of cereal and pushed it away from her. Avalon took it and placed it in the sink, sticking her tongue out at her sister over her shoulder. "And anyway, I already registered for the school. I'm in his science class…" she turned and smiled sweetly at her brother. "Dr. O."

"I can't believe you're a doctor," Avalon added. She pointed at him. "Paleontology was _not_ something I thought you would fall into."

"I know." Tommy gave a fond smile as he remembered his dreams of wanting to become a racer. "It just snuck up on me. The best things tend to do that."

His uncle had let him use his cars to test drive around and he had become so good at it. But then there was the one crash that had scared him out of it. He wasn't going to admit he was scared, he never admitted it. Instead, he had said that the crash helped him realize was what more important and he had gone back to school. Paleontology had been something he had fallen into, not including his brush with the ideas when he was a ranger, his friends and siblings encompassing the powers of some dinosaurs, others extinct animals.

Breaking out of his thoughts, he shook his head. "But I've always been great with kids, and it's a rewarding job."

"High schoolers are different than _kids_ ," Bailey pointed out to him.

"I think I can handle it." Tommy took bowl and put it in the sink, running water over them. He then turned the water off and dried off his hands. "I can take Bailey into school and get her situated and everything; I have to go in early anyway."

Avalon gave a look of mock offense. "And what am I supposed to do?"

Tommy picked up a newspaper and walked over to Avalon, slapping the offending object into her chest. "Get a job," he said to her. "Like you should've done when you first moved in." He looked around. "Or you can clean up a bit. God knows I don't have the time."

"Or the patience," Bailey piped up.

Glancing down at the paper, Avalon gave him the middle finger. "I don't know if you're aware of it, mate, but there's this thing called computers that everyone uses now."

Tommy's amused smile faded and he glanced over at his answering machine. There weren't any red lights on it this time and for that he was glad despite the wave of sorrow that fell over him.

"Technology and I don't mix," he said. Avalon let out a patient sigh, watching her brother intently. When he showed he wasn't going to talk about it, she reached over and grabbed his red tie, straightening it.

Tommy smiled at her and went over to his spot at the kitchen table he pulled on a white lab coat that had been resting on the back of the chair and pulled it on. Once he had it on correctly, he picked up his glasses and slid them over his eyes. While being a ranger had made him strong in many aspects, it still couldn't slow down Mother Nature and his deteriorating eye sight. At least he only needed them when he was reading. Holding out an arm, he turned to Bailey. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah." Bailey picked up her backpack, already filled with books and slung it over her shoulders, pulling her hair free from behind her. "Later Av."

"Bye."

Tommy and Bailey left the house and got into Tommy's jeep and headed towards the school. Despite the calm and warm atmosphere of Reefside did nothing to improve their mood; the two were quiet the whole way. Tommy's grip continued to tighten on the steering wheel as the seconds passed. His parents had been excited when he told them he was going to become a teacher when the fall came. His mother nearly strangled him with her hug, rocking him back and forth. Mr. Oliver had stood behind her, grasping Tommy's shoulders and gently shaking him saying 'I told you' over and over again. It was the first job offer he had received since the explosion.

Then they had gone out to dinner—which he thought was too much of a fuss—and promised he would come back and visit them again soon. Then his work had gotten in the way…

No.

Tommy briefly closed his eyes as he pulled up to a red light. He couldn't think about that again. Not when there were more important things to think about. He would worry about it later. He had to focus on his work.

 _But isn't that what you did before? You ignored everything that happened; you went through the funeral like you were a robot._

Tommy scowled and pushed the thoughts away. Bailey glanced at him but didn't question the sudden scowl that came to his face. She knew him well enough by then to know if he wanted to talk about something, he would talk about it on his own time. If it was very important, he would have come out with it. She'd give him some time then drag it out of him later. She was good at that.

By the time they arrived at Reefside High, Tommy at least managed to smile a little. Students milled around as they waited for the school bell to ring signaling them to class. They laughed and called out to each other as they went, oblivious to the fact they would be late in a few minutes. It was the new school year, who would stop them from meeting up with their friends? He remembered when he was the same way; ready to go back to Angel Grove High school to see his friends. (Not that they didn't already spend so much time together).

Tommy glanced around, pushing his glasses up his nose as he lead Bailey into the school and over to the administrative office to gather her schedule. Bailey took it from the secretary with a smile and looked it over. With a sigh, she dropped her arms, slapping her schedule against her legs. "I don't believe this!" She cried. "I'm in your homeroom, too."

Tommy smiled as he looked over at her. "Is that such a bad thing?"

"I don't need to be babysat," Bailey protested. "I'm not in kindie."

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's to be sure that you're holding up OK," he said. "It hasn't been that long…" He trailed off and Bailey let out a heavy sigh, nodding. She could feel that familiar clench in her stomach as she thought about her adoptive parents. They had given her a better chance at life and she had done her best to protect them from the monsters that were constantly set down…and yet she couldn't save them from a drunk driver.

It was sick.

"Dr. Oliver."

Tommy and Bailey both turned around to see a raven haired woman walking over to them. Well, if he were using the right word, he'd say 'stalking' as it appeared they were her prey. One look over at Bailey and he could tell she felt the same way. The woman stomped down the halls with a sort of evil confidence that caused students to immediately move out of her way. The dark eyes behind her silver rimmed glasses were locked onto him as she approached. When she reached him, she adjusted the scarf around her neck and cleared her throat. "I'm Principal Randall." Her eyes shifted to Bailey with a passing glance then looked at Tommy once more. "It's good to see you've made it here OK."

"Thanks for your concern," Tommy replied. He held out his hand towards her. "It's your first day here, as well, isn't it?"

Principal Randall ignored his outstretched hand and started off down the hallway once more. Her quick backwards glance, accompanied with a raised eyebrow, indicated to Tommy and Bailey she expected them to follow her.

"Yes, well, that's not the pressing concern at the moment," Principal Randall said. She brought up a folder that had been tucked out of sight under her arm and flipped it open. She moved a few pages aside, glancing at Tommy up over the top of her glasses. Bailey's eyebrows furrowed together as she watched the woman. She seemed to be very standoffish for no reason. "What is, however, is your background, _Dr._ Oliver." She licked her finger tip and turned a page over. "How does a doctor of paleontology become a high school science teacher? Better yet, _why_?"

Tommy straightened his tie as he cleared his throat before giving a smarmy smile. "I guess I was just looking for some peace and quiet. No matter where I went, there seemed to be something following me."

Bailey reached out and smacked Tommy on the arm, giving him a disapproving look.

Principal Randall then turned her attention to the young girl. "Excuse me, but I don't condone the assault of teachers here."

"I'm sorry." Bailey's eyes widened. "He's my brother," she protested.

"And on school grounds he's your teacher," Principal Randall continued, locking Bailey in her intense stare. "Detention after school."

"What?" Bailey squealed, mouth dropping open. She had never had a bad grade in her entire life let alone a detention. She looked at Tommy in protest and he appeared just as surprised as she did.

Principal Randall ignored the exchange between the siblings and closed her folder with a loud snap. She held it against her chest, looking the man up and down. "And your reasoning's for being here doesn't really seem to make a whole lot of sense," she said. "Wanting some peace and quiet…so instead of teaching at the collegiate level with some of the brightest minds…you decide to teach a bunch of high school students who would probably rather rot their brains with mindless TV,"—she glanced down at Bailey—"and miscreant activities."

Bailey glared at her.

Tommy's lower jaw moved to the side. "Considering you're questioning my teaching ability, why don't you let me know what it is that you want from me as a teacher and we can figure out where to go from there?"

Principal Randall slowly smiled, a malicious air exploding around her. Anyone that walked by moved to the far side of the trio, so not to move into their air space lest they would have walked into a brick wall of tension. "You are to instill fear into them…it's as simple as that."

She turned on her heel and continued to walk down the hallway, moving everyone out of her way with invisible hands.

* * *

Avalon Oliver-Mitchell sighed as she looked through the newspaper. She may as well try that first before relying on looking through the computer if Tommy had even gone about setting it up. Saying he had an aversion to technology was an understatement. But he had always been one that liked to put hard work in and didn't like when things were particularly 'easy'. Besides, maybe she'd figure out something else if she cleaned up the place a bit, that would take some stress off of him. She could see how much their parents' death had affected him and while he kept insisting he was fine, she knew her brother was anything but fine.

He wasn't the same kind of guy that was always joking around and laughing. Even when she and Bailey had been staying at his house, before that whole red ranger fiasco on the moon, the three of them had a blast staying together during Avalon's break as she finished up her schooling. That had been such a great time, living with Kat and Tanya while they had gone to school, going to classes with some former rangers, keeping in touch with some not keeping in touch with others. It was bound to happen; they were all going their separate ways despite the past that tied them together.

Lowering her gaze, Avalon glanced at the newspaper once more before closing it, folding it back up and leaving it at Tommy's spot so he could read it later. Yeah, she was going to get some cleaning done. There had to be something that would keep the place from looking like it was a cabin in the woods. Who liked to live out in the middle of nowhere like that?

 _I mean, the guy's always been big on his privacy, but this is ridiculous,_ Avalon thought. She glanced around the kitchen before heading out into the living room where his red inked papers were scattered around. Dust covered the coffee tables, the blinds needed to be adjusted, and as she noticed, there could be a little light brought into the place. She had just gotten started organizing what looked like his newest research when the phone rang. The sudden sound made her jump for a moment before she rolled her eyes and walked over to the receiver.

Too many monster attacks had made her way too in tune with her reflexes.

She answered quickly, "Oliver residence."

"Hey, it's Tommy," he said quickly.

"Did the mean bullies run you out of school already?" Avalon teased. "Do I need to come and pick you up?"

"Very funny. No, actually, I remembered there was something I forgot to do before I left," Tommy said. He suddenly lowered his voice; as if afraid someone would listen in on their conversation. "Could you go down to the basement and check it for me?"

With a light sigh, Avalon turned on her heel and started towards the back of the house towards the basement stairs. "I swear, Tommy. Your head would fall off if it weren't screwed to your neck. I thought you were over your boofhead tendencies."

She smiled when he heard his laughter at her light teasing. At least he finally managed to loosen up a little bit. If he was as excited about teaching as he said he was, then he would be smiling by the end of the day.

"Let's just say habits die hard," Tommy said with a light chuckle. Then he paused as if waiting for the moment Avalon knew it to be true. The Australian woman went down to the basement and looked around for the light switch. She flipped it on and shrugged as she looked around. What was she supposed to do down there? Dust the pool table? "Okay, I need you to go to the door at the back of the laundry room and go in."

 _Door at the back of the laundry room?_ She had never noticed one before. Following his instructions, she weaved through the basket of clothes that sat along the floor and reached the door. As if he had been watching her, Tommy spoke once more as soon as her hand landed on the doorknob. "I haven't told you and Bailey about this before because I wanted to be sure of some things first, but I really do need your guys' help."

"Okay…" Avalon opened the door and as soon as she stepped inside, the lights turned on, revealing to her what had been hidden in the back room. Her eyes swept around the room, taking in everything the laboratory had to offer. As soon as her eyes landed on the pedestal that sat in the middle of the room her shoulders slumped. "Oh come on."

* * *

 **A/N:** I know it may have seemed like the part where Tommy's (and Av's and Bay's) parents' death was too short and glossed over, but it's going to come back up again, I just needed it to bring Av and Bay into the picture.

Because this story is in Dino Thunder and it happens years and years and years after These Walls, there is no recap; things you learn about the rangers will be done as the story goes on. But there are also no spoilers for _These Walls_ within the first fifteen or so chapters. Not any that is incredibly big (that I can think of) and typically just mentions things that happened in canon of the show and its past seasons. Which is why I started posting it even though _These Walls_ isn't finished yet.

This story will have a lot of past rangers show up as well as the ones that are in Dino Thunder, so be prepared to see a lot of people come and go as the story goes on. I'm really excited to know what you guys think so please let me know.

 **~Avalon**


	2. Chapter 2: Day of the Dino (2)

**Chapter 02**

 _Day of the Dino (2)_

* * *

"I can't _believe_ you got me a detention," Bailey grumbled as she and Tommy arrived at his classroom, stopping outside the door. She peered inside, watching as her soon to be classmates acted up in their teacher's absence, throwing paper planes, rubber bands, and pencils back and forth while others kept to themselves. "I should've known. Considering you were such a boofhead in high school it would rub off on me."

"I'm sorry, Bay," Tommy apologized with a hint of humor to his voice. He raised an eyebrow as he continued to watch his students throw things around. "I'll talk to Principal Randall myself and see if we can get things cleared up. But right now, I have a class to teach."

A light sigh escaped the teen's lips as she turned her gaze to her brother. "Do you want me to call you Dr. Oliver in class? Or is Tommy okay?" she teased.

"Whatever you want just as long as you don't bring a lot of attention to yourself," Tommy replied.

Bailey raised an eyebrow, looking over her shoulder. He had been kind of distracted since he made a quick phone call to Av. Not that it was surprising, he had been distracted for a while. But at least he appeared ready to teach, it would give him something to do other than act like a hermit all the time.

She held out her arm. "Lead the way, bro. Show em' whose boss."

Tommy flashed her a smile before walking into the classroom. None of the students seemed to notice him as he moved to the front of the room and Bailey took an empty seat at the first table she could find, taking her out her purple notebook to start taking notes. She looked on passively as Tommy addressed the class.

"Guys! Settle down! Take your seats please!" As the noise lowered to a few disperse whispers, Bailey took a quick glance around the room. They looked like any other teenagers, ready to be in class but not so ready to listen. Going through the motions so they could pass and graduate. But then her eyes rested on a boy and girl that sat on the other side of the room; the boy completely decked out in blue and the girl dressed in a lot of yellow.

A knowing smile came to the former ranger's face and she shook her head, looking away from them before turning her attention back to her brother. If he was going to succeed he would need someone on his side.

"My name is Dr. Oliver and this is first period science," Tommy continued. "Before we start are there any questions?" As soon as the word left his mouth a dainty hand was thrust into the air with gusto. "Yes?" He asked, hanging his word at the end so that she could tell him her name.

"Cassidy," she replied with a bright smile. "Cassidy Cornell." Her smile faltered slightly when she heard the groans that immediately came from the other classmates. Eyebrows furrowing Bailey frowned before she twisted around to take a look at Cassidy. There was nothing overtly wrong with her that she could see. She listened as Cassidy stood up to address Tommy. "Dr. Oliver, as you may know I'm the anchor and field reporter for our school TV station. I'm sure our viewers are wondering, well, you don't look old enough to be a teacher."

Bailey snorted and quickly brought her hand up to cover her mouth as Tommy's eyes shifted and he lowered his gaze. Pressing her lips as hard as she could, Bailey tried to hold in her laughter, though it was pressing hard to come out. Not many people knew that Tommy had managed to get his Bachelor's, Master's, and PHD at an accelerated rate, much shorter than many others could dream of getting it done. But with his experiences and his topic of study…it wasn't that surprising.

Lowering her head to compose herself—as well as to fend off the eyes that turned her way—Bailey turned her attention back to Cassidy, taking in her attire. She looked more like a cheerleader than a news anchor.

"Cassidy, I promise you I'm old enough to be your teacher," Tommy said quickly, diffusing the situation as Cassidy snapped at her friend Devin—who was carrying a video camera—if he was getting footage of their conversation. Cassidy pouted as she and Devin sat back down. "But enough about me, let's talk about you. And what you expect of yourselves in this class, because that's what's really important." Tommy's eyes moved around the room and rested on an empty stool beside Bailey. "Is there someone missing?" He asked.

A low murmur went around the room as the students looked at each other and shrugged. Tommy let out a low breath. This sure wasn't like Angel Grove, where everyone knew everyone else and was at least friendly to each other. Bailey commiserated his thought as she looked around the classroom once more. Then, resting her chin in her hand, she waited for Tommy to continue class, doodling in the corner of the page.

Her mind wandered, wonder what her sister was doing.

* * *

Conner McKnight shifted a soccer ball around his feet, glancing up at the goal every now and then. The goalie, who was covered in padded gear, shivered as he waited for the soccer ball to shoot his way. Placing his hands on his hips, Conner rolled the ball atop his foot then juggled it back and forth for a few seconds. Then he kicked it high in the air, backed up a step, and with a driving force, shot it towards the goal.

He sighed as it flew in easily, the goalie doing nothing to stop the ball. Lifting his hands, Conner slapped them to his sides before addressing the goalie. "Dude, you're supposed to try and stop it."

"Why don't you stand here in goal while you take a shot on yourself and see how well you block it," the goalie shot back. His shoulders slumped. "Are you sure we're not going to get in trouble for this? I mean, the bell rang and it's the first day."

"Look, if anyone says anything, tell them Conner McKnight gave you permission to be out here." Conner couldn't help but smile a little as he the words. He was the captain of the soccer team, the best striker the school had within the last ten years, and not to mention he was at the top of the popularity pyramid. If there was anyone else at the school that was as untouchable as Conner, then he wanted to meet them.

Football might be big in Texas, but nothing beat soccer at Reefside High.

"Yeah…" the goalie said slowly. "But I heard the new principal is crazy. She worked in a prison or something before she came here."

A chuckle escaped Conner's lips as he flicked his hair out of his face. "Don't worry about Randall," he said calmly. "She's a woman, and women are just grown up girls." His smile immediately turned smug. Oh yeah, he knew a lot about girls, more than anyone else at that school. "Need I say more?"

He was so into his own gloating that he didn't notice footsteps coming up behind him until it was too late. "I think you've said quiet enough Mr. McKnight."

His blood ran cold. He actually felt the temperature of his body drop as the words reached his ears. It couldn't be anyone else but the new principal. There was no one else at Reefside that sounded like that. Cold, calculating, and mean. Slowly turning around, Conner saw Principal Randall glaring at him and knew immediately she had heard everything he said.

Still, that didn't mean he couldn't charm his way out of it. He could charm his way out of anything. "Principal Randall, I've heard such great things about you." He gave a charming smile that slowly faded over seconds as Principal Randall didn't respond other than to glare at him.

"Vicious rumors I can assure you," she finally said then tilted her head to the side. "Go!" Conner immediately turned and started to walk away from the field, as if his feet had a mind of their own. There was something about Principal Randall that warned him that he didn't want to mess with her. "What are you looking at?"

Turning around, mouth already open to form an apology, Conner found her glaring at the boy that still stood in goal. Principal Randall brought back her foot and kicked the soccer ball as hard as she could. It rocketed into the stomach of the goalie, knocking him back into the goal and onto the ground. "Now get back to class!"

 _What a shot._ Conner's eyes widened.

Principal Randall turned his way and he quickly turned around and continued walking. It wasn't as if he didn't know where he was going; he had been sent to the principal's office more times than he could count. But he had never had to deal with Principal Randall before; it might be harder than he thought. Within a few quick strides she was at his side, before pulling up ahead of him at such a speed that Conner nearly had to jog to keep up with her.

 _Whoever she is, this chick means business._

The two walked up into the main area of campus where students milled around. Conner let out a low sigh, realizing that he had missed class. His Dad was going to kill him. Principal Randall suddenly shifted to the side and walked over to a table that held a girl dressed in rocker style clothing with yellow accents, playing the guitar while she sang to a crowd that sat around her.

"Miss. Ford," Principal Randall said, coming to a quick stop. Conner stopped just behind her, looking over at the girl. "You need written permission to be able to perform on school grounds."

If she was annoyed that Principal Randall had just shut her down 'Miss. Ford' didn't exactly show it on her face. Instead, she turned her guitar aside and gave the principal a hard stare. "Did you know that kids that play and instrument have a fifty percent higher chance of getting into college?"

Conner sucked in a breath between his teeth as Principal Randall lowered her glasses and made a show of looking Miss. Ford up and down. "Well, you're hardly college material now are you, Miss. Ford. Now come with me." She turned on her heel, missing the open mouth expression Kira gave her before she got up from the picnic table she had been perched upon and followed her.

The trio barely made it a few steps across the grass before they were suddenly blasted with a shot of water. Conner jumped backwards, bringing his hands up to cover his face, then moved them down to ring out his red soccer jersey. He shook his head, sending droplets flying as the sprinklers continued to soak him, Kira, and Principal Randall.

He ran out of the splash zone just as a African-American teenager walked by holding onto a blue umbrella and a bright smile while other students ran for cover. There was no one else that could have been the mastermind behind the prank.

"Ethan James," Principal Randall said. "I should have known." She walked over to the teen and grabbed onto his shoulder. He turned around, startled. Then his eyes shifted to Conner and Miss. Ford who stood behind her. "With me! Now!" Principal Randall kept her grasp on Ethan's shoulder and marched the three to the principal's office.

Conner noticed a girl wearing a knit purple beret over wavy brown hair, knit purple gloves, a purple vest, a white t-shirt, jean shorts and brown boots was already sitting on the bench, her legs crossed at the knee an annoyed expression on her face. She looked up as Principal Randall waked by with the three students but didn't say anything otherwise. He sat down beside her, Miss. Ford, and Ethan sitting beside him.

Ethan spoke up quickly. "I just wanted to say that there's absolutely no hard evidence linking me to that unfortunate sprinkler incident."

"Save it for Judge Judy Mr. James," Principal Randall said in a low growl. She wiped water droplets off her glasses before glaring at the four students. "The three of you have detention for one week. Starting today. Now if there are no further questions—"

"What?!" The girl in purple squealed. "A week!?"

"You assaulted a teacher," Principal Randall shot back.

"But I have soccer practice!" Conner cried.

"I have computer club!" Ethan added.

Principal Randall merely glared at the four students before she pushed her way into the office. Conner slumped down in his seat muttering, "Great," under his breath.

"Okay, somebody seriously needs a hug," Miss. Ford said, clenching her hand into a fist. She then turned to the girl that sat at the end of the bench. "You assaulted a teacher?"

The girl shook her head. "Not exactly. Not like that drongo would know, anyway," she added in a thick accent. She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest before reaching a hand up to rub at her forehead muttering something like, "I'm going to kill him," under her breath.

Conner shook his head then leaned forward, addressing Ethan. "Dude, Computer Club?" He asked.

Ethan glared at him but didn't reply.

* * *

At the end of the school day, Tommy let out a low sigh, packing everything into his briefcase. He glanced around the classroom to be sure he wasn't leaving anything behind, then left the room, making sure to turn off the lights. He had just made it to the main staircase of the school when Principal Randall reached his side and started to climb the stairs with him.

"Dr. Oliver," she drawled. "How was your first day?"

"The kids were great, no problem. Good you're going to be seeing a lot more of them." Principal Randall hiked an eyebrow as she turned to him. "In detention."

 _Detention?_ Tommy's eyebrows rose in amusement. "Do you mind telling me what I did?" he joked. Principal Randall didn't return his amusement and he quickly dropped his smile. _Wow. Tough crowd._ He was starting to miss Angel Grove more than he thought he would.

"No, you're in charge of it today."

Oh. _Oh_. Tommy came to a stop. "No, actually, I can't." Principal Randall's eyebrow rose higher. "I was going to head to this museum out of town and I—"

"Perfect, bring the little miscreants with you," she interrupted and led him up the rest of the stairs and around the corner where the four students were waiting for them. "That should be sufficient torture for them. You've all met, I trust." Tommy looked over at Bailey and tried not to laugh when he noticed how miserable she looked. But the other three students all had the same expression of disdain on their faces. "Enjoy your little outing."

"Tommy," Bailey snapped, getting her brother's attention. She widened her eyes and motioned to Principal Randall.

He nodded and stopped the woman as he spoke. "Don't you think you could go a little easy on Bailey? She's new here and like I said before she's—"

"Dr. Oliver when you're on school grounds you're a teacher and you need to separate your personal relationships with your students from a professional one." Principal Randall shifted her eyes back and forth from Tommy to Bailey then back to Tommy. She held his gaze, backing up a few steps then turned and walked away.

Tommy sighed and shrugged, turning back to the students. "So, do you guys like museums?" He asked as he took off his glasses.

* * *

"Wow, check to that dinosaur!"

Kira Ford rolled her eyes at Ethan's cry of excitement as they pulled up to the museum. Her eyes raked over the outside of the building, then landed on the giant dinosaur statue. It wasn't _that_ impressed, but it was pretty cool. Still, she would have rather been anywhere else than there at the moment. Even being forced to listen to rap music—which she hated with a passion—would have been better.

Dr. Oliver pulled the car up to the front of the museum and parked the car, allowing everyone to get out. The group looked around as they walked towards the door, stopping when they spotted a chain strung across the front with a CLOSED sign resting in the middle.

"That's weird," Dr. Oliver muttered, almost inaudible.

"Oh well, no museum for us," Conner said with a hopeful lift to his voice.

Kira caught onto it quickly. "Great! Let's go home!"

"I'll tell you what," Tommy said, turning to them. "Why don't you guys look around the grounds? If you find anything prehistoric I'll cancel detention for the rest of the week. I'll see if I can find someone who can tell us when they're opening up."

"Do you want me to go with them?" Bailey asked Tommy, placing her hands on her hips.

"Yeah…Av's coming to meet me here anyway, why don't you go along with them?" Tommy replied. Bailey nodded and started to walk with the group. "Be careful!" Bailey waved back and the four teens walked off down a side path, away from the museum.

"So…" Ethan said after a few minutes of walking in silence. "You and Dr. Oliver…" he said slowly, glancing at Bailey out of the corner of his eye.

"What about him?" Bailey asked innocently. Kira's eyebrows lowered as she looked over at the girl. Was that truly an innocent expression? Or did she not realize…? As bad as it was to say, Kira was a little curious to know what it was about her and their new teacher that had them so comfortable with each other. They certainly were close.

"…I mean, are you in a relationship or some sort…?"

Bailey's face screwed up into a grotesque expression of horror. "Ew! No! He's my brother!"

"Your brother?" Now Conner looked confused. "But…you have an accent and he doesn't?"

"I'm adopted," Bailey explained. "I'm Australian."

"Oh."

Kira rolled her eyes as she shook her head. There was no way this guy would be in the computer club that was for sure. No. He was too into his own looks and soccer; everyone knew that considering how often he was splashed across the face of the school newspaper's sports section. Not that she was jealous or anything, but they certainly could have put more focus on the arts every once in a while.

They had been walking along in silence for a few more minutes before Ethan spoke up once more. Kira sighed lightly. _I guess he can't stand people not talking for more than a few minutes,_ she thought. It wasn't bad, honestly, but she preferred to use her time to think about some of the new songs she was working on.

"Did you guys hear about the guy that was hiking up here and fell into a giant sinkhole?"

Kira shook her head, catching Bailey's eye. She smiled back at Kira and continued walking forward at a leisurely pace. Then Kira responded to Ethan dismissively, "Must have missed that one."

"Come on, it was on all the urban legend websites!"

A light laugh escaped Conner's lips. "Dude, you know this isn't computer club, right?" His hands were shoved into the pockets of his jeans. He looked like he wasn't into looking for anything prehistoric at all, rather than figuring out how he was going to be able to get out of there without doing any work.

"I guess you're too big and bad to surf the web." Ethan scoffed. "Well, what do you do in your spare time?

"Me? I go out with girls. You know they're the ones at school that smell really good with the long hair and the makeup."

"Oh it's like that, is it?"

"Yeah, it's like that."

Kira sighed loudly, pushing by then. "Whatever." She didn't need to deal with their macho boy drama. They didn't get along, their interests were different. So what? It wasn't anything they needed to fight about. She wanted to find something and get out of there. A week's worth of after school detention was nothing short of unfair. Just because she wanted to express herself creatively? Nothing was worse than having her expressive means to be shut down. And to have been implied that she wasn't able to go to college?

That pissed her off more than anything else.

"There is some merit in his worries," Bailey pointed out. "The worst place to get lost would be out here, I reckon. I mean the museum is outside the city,"—she pulled out her cell phone—"there's not much reception on my telly, and Tommy wouldn't know where we went."

"Look, whatever. Let's just find something and get out of here," Conner said. "I have better things to do than be stuck in detention all week."

"All I'm trying to do is give you guys the heads up," Ethan called from behind them, sounding indignant. "Stuff happens out here. Just don't come crying to me when you fall in a giant sink—"

He barely got the last word out of his mouth before the ground gave way beneath his feet and he fell to the ground. Kira turned back towards him and soon found herself falling through the ground as well. She cried out in surprise seconds before she hit the ground, everything going black.

* * *

"Tommy!" Avalon pulled up to the museum on her bike and quickly climbed off it. She lowered the kickstand and climbed off it. She shook out her hair and went over to her brother, who stood by the front door of the museum, hands on his hips.

"Hey, I'm glad you found the place okay," Tommy said to her.

"I would've found it sooner if you hadn't taken the car."

"I thought you had the rental," he replied, eyes narrowing slightly.

She waved a hand. "I was going to buy one today, but then I found that dirty little secret in our basement." Tommy gave her a knowing smile as she brought a hand up to her forehead. "The first thing I want to ask if why did you keep that from me and Bay?" If there was anything Power Ranger related it didn't take long for anyone to figure out what it was. But to know that her own brother—the leader of the teams she had been on—had kept it a secret from her really confused her. Why would he…? Then it hit her. "Oh, this has something to do with your work with Anton Mercer."

"Bingo," Tommy replied. He then held up a hand, turning towards the doors of the museum. Avalon leaned to the side and looked at the logo that was attached to the front of the museum doors.

"In case of an emergency call Anton Mercer Industries," she read out loud. Then her eyebrows slammed together. That was impossible. Anton Mercer had died in the island explosion, everyone knew that. The science world had been rocked when the billionaire had been pronounced missing, there was so much that he could do and with Tommy working at his side it appeared their experiments were coming along smoothly. "How is that possible?" She asked.

"Considering everything we've gone through since we were teenagers, I kind of ruled questions of possible and impossible out of my vocabulary," Tommy remarked. He crossed his arms over his chest. "But in this case, I'm not sure either."

"Do you think it's anything that we need to contact NASADA for?" Avalon asked, tilting her head to the side. Tommy gave her a strange look and she rushed to explain. "I know they generally work with space travels and intergalactic issues, but it might be worth a shot. General Norquist may have left information with his successor."

She watched as Tommy nodded slightly, bringing his hand up to his chin. It was an idea, not a perfect one, but the best thing they could go along with. Avalon knew that for sure, but there wasn't anything else that she could think of that would help them. Not unless they were able to morph themselves, but that was wishful thinking at that point. You never knew what you had until it was gone. She had many brushes with getting that lesson slapped into her face. What was one more?

"I think it may be better if we contacted Anton Industries, see what we can get out of them," Tommy replied.

Avalon nodded then placed her hands on her hips, smiling slyly at her brother. "Bay told me that you got her a week's worth of detention."

"It wasn't my fault," Tommy defended himself with a light roll of his eyes. "Principal Randall…she's something else. Bailey gently swatted me and she's claiming it was assault. Of course she's not too happy."

"Of course not," Avalon agreed. "This is the girl that takes almost all advanced classes and has her life planned out for the next ten years. Goober knows what she's doing and having a detention wasn't in that plan." She reached out a hand and patted him on the shoulder. "I wouldn't want to be you right now. Enough about that how was your day?"

"I'm running detention my first day or work, what does that tell you?"

"That you're doing the same thing you did when we were teens. That you care about other kids and you want them to feel like there's more to them than they already knew."

Tommy smiled at the warm sentiments his sister gave him then crossed his arms over his chest. "You didn't get a job yet did you?"

"I have some interviews lined up, bro, don't worry." Avalon lifted her hand and placed them on her heart. "Besides, I've got some connections from back in Aus and they're working hard to get me some gigs out here."

"That's good." Tommy nodded and looked at his watch. "We should get going. It doesn't look like there's anyone else around here that we can talk to." Avalon nodded and the two turned and started to walk to Tommy's jeep. Avalon looked up and slowed to a stop, causing Tommy to look glance at her over his shoulder. "Something wrong?"

"Ummm." Avalon scratched the back of her head. "Correct me if I'm wrong, bro, but wasn't there a massive dinosaur statue here a few minutes ago?" She waved her hand up towards the empty spot and Tommy whipped around to see for himself.

Then there was a loud growling sound and the two stared, eyes wide as the statue, that they both thought had indeed been a statue, came to life and roared down in front of them. Tommy clenched his hands into fists and immediately jumped up, doing a spinning kick right to the tyrannosaurus's nose. It moved back a few inches, shook its head and roared again, sending a warm blast of air into the siblings' faces. Avalon then moved forward and punched the tyrannosaurs before following it up with a strong kick.

The two had seen so many things that they weren't inherently afraid of the dinosaur than their senses telling them to get away. Due to the combination of their attacks they gave themselves a wide enough berth to turn on their heels and race back to Tommy's jeep. Avalon jumped into the passenger seat and quickly pulled down the seatbelt as Tommy moved into the driver's side.

"Hurry!" Av cried as the tyrannosaurus raced towards them. She looked over at Tommy and found him fumbling in his pocket for his car key. Unbuckling herself, Avalon leaned over to the driver's side and reached her hand underneath the dashboard. Pulling out a few wires she pressed the tips together and the car roared to life. "Go! Go!"

Tommy gave himself enough time to cast the former ranger a disapproving glance before he drove away from the tyrannosaurus at maximum speed the tyrannosaurus chasing right after them. Speeding around winds in the road, Tommy continued to race away from the dinosaur, only getting it to stop as they drove under an overpass and the dinosaur crashed into it, immediately falling to the ground.

Tommy pulled the car to a stop and he and Avalon quickly climbed out and ran over. Avalon's face twisted up as she looked into the side of the tyrannosaurus's face and spotted the wires and electronic boards that littered the inside.

"Wow, Billy would have a field day if he was able to get a look at this," She said, pushing her hair behind her ear. "What is it?"

"It looks like something that Anton and I were working on," Tommy said slowly, crouching down by the dinosaur's side. He lifted his head and looked up at Avalon. "Which means, he may still be alive."

* * *

Coughing, Ethan pushed himself up to his feet, dusting off his hands. He looked around to find Conner, Kira, and Bailey had fallen along with him and were pulling themselves up as well. Waving a hand in front of his face, Ethan realized they were further underground than he thought they would be. Lifting his chin, he looked up towards the opening to the cave. It was definitely too far for them to reach up and pull themselves out.

"Is everyone okay?" Bailey asked, her voice echoing along the cavernous walls. Getting positive responses, she placed a hand on the back of her head and looked up towards the hole they fell through as well. "That could have been a nasty fall, yeah?"

"I'll say," Kira agreed, pulling leaves from her hair. She looked around at the caverns that twisted and turned away from their position. "Where are we?"

"Better question is, how do we get out," Ethan reminded her.

"Okay." Conner dusted off his hands. "You three stay here where it's safe. I'll climb back up and get help." Before anyone could talk him out of it, he grabbed a hold of the cavern wall and started to make his way up. He moved a few inches before his handhold crumbled beneath his hands and he fell back to the ground.

"Back so soon?" Ethan quipped as Kira and Bailey moved forward and helped him to his feet. Conner glared at him and he shrugged in response, leading the group down the cavern trail. Kira started to sing quietly under her breath as they went, growing louder as the seconds passed.

"Babe," Conner broke in. "Could you please stop singing? I'm trying to concentrate here."

Kira immediately came to a stop. "Did you just call me babe?" She demanded and when Conner didn't respond, she turned to Bailey and Ethan. "Did he just call me babe?" Ethan shrugged and Bailey nodded.

"Sounded like it to me," she remarked. If anything, she looked amused at the tension that surrounded the rangers, as if realizing there were more important things to worry about. Ethan at least agreed with that sentiment; they needed to find a way to get out of there.

"Listen, my name is Kira!" She snapped, walking up to Conner. "Maybe you should write it on your hand or something. _Don't_ call me, babe."

"Okay. Geez." Conner lifted his hands defensively and Kira stalked off. "I haven't ever had a girl react so badly to me calling them 'babe' before."

"Well, maybe she had an ex-boyfriend that used to call her babe, yeah?" Bailey suggested as she followed Kira. "You never know what someone's story is unless you ask them."

"Oh yeah?" Ethan looked at her curiously. "What's yours?"

"Mine is boring, mate."

And that ended the conversation just as quickly as the discover of the dinosaur skeleton that sat on the wall in front of them. It was an odd placement for the skeleton in general, but it was also something they could bring back to Dr. Oliver to get out of detention for the week. _But how are we going to get it out of here and back up to the surface?_

"This screams Jurassic Park to me," Kira said, voicing his thoughts.

"This will get us out of detention forever," Conner added. He reached out and placed his hands on the lower jaw of his skeleton. For a second he ran his hands along the piece and then grasped it, pulling it down.

"I don't think you should do that, mate," Bailey said quickly, but said it too late. Ethan jumped back as the bottom jaw lowered and a rock slab slowly rose up from the floor. Then his jaw dropped open. "Ace," Bailey whispered.

"No way!" Ethan was the first to step into the lab that was revealed. He spun in a quick circle, taking in the prehistoric décor that lined the room. He then stood in awe, not able to do anything other than smile, mesmerized by the gadgets and gizmos that were delicately placed around the room. He turned to the others to say something then stopped when he found Conner and Kira standing by a pedestal in the middle of the room. Conner's hand was reached out towards something on the pedestal. "Don't touch that!"

Conner froze, his hand hovering above the pedestal. "Why not?"

"You're taking this dumb job thing seriously aren't you?" Ethan taunted, crossing his arms. He couldn't help it, there was something about Conner that just rubbed him the wrong way. Maybe that he seemed to think he could get through life on his looks and athletic talent. There was so much more to life than that and while Ethan preferred to play video games and computer games than chase a ball downfield, that didn't mean it was everything.

"I've been in enough science classes to know when something looks prehistoric," Conner commented, picking up the gem that sat in front of him a red one. "And if it means not having to be in detention for the entire week then…"

Kira looked over at Conner and reached out a hand, grabbing onto a gem as well— a yellow one. "I'm with him; I have rehearsal I have to go to."

Ethan sighed heavily and picked up the last gem, a blue one. "Fine, but if we go down for it, then I'm making sure you get the worst punishment." He then blinked and turned towards the purple clad girl. "I'm sorry, Bailey, there doesn't seem to be one for you to take."

"No worries." She waved a hand. "I think if you show yours and I explain what this place looks like I'll be fine to have the rest of my detentions revoked." Her eyes suddenly widened as she remembered they were probably trespassing. "Hey, let's get out of here before whoever owns this place comes back. They may be a few sheep short of the station and I don't want to see that first hand." She stared as they blinked blankly at him.

"That's the same sort of look I get whenever I start talking about computers. But normally I'm sure I still speak in English," he said.

A light smile came across Bailey's lips. "My bad," she apologized. "I meant whoever owns this place may be crazy and I don't want to stick around to find out."

"I'm with you," Kira agreed. "Let's go." Conner nodded his agreement and the two started out of the cave with Bailey right behind hem.

Ethan closed his hand tighter over the gem that lay in his palm and hesitated. He took one last look around the lab before shoving the gem into his pocket and following after them.

* * *

 **A/N:** Thanks to everyone that's alerted and favorite so far. It really means a lot that you're still coming on this journey with me, Av, and Bay while the stories have been going on this long. Really, it does. The next few chapters finish up Day of the Dino and then we'll get more to the other big plot line for the story. And for those wondering, former rangers will be coming back in this story and you'll see how they ended up between _These Walls_ and this one.

So I have an idea of the kind of job/career that Av would have, but what do you guys think she would do?

Thanks for the favorites, alerts, and reviews, I'll have it updated again soon.

 **~Avalon**


	3. Chapter 3: Day of the Dino (3)

**Chapter 03**

 _Day of the Dino (3)_

* * *

"Alive?" Avalon repeated, to which Tommy nodded in reply. He took a step back away from the mechanical dinosaur and placed his hands on his hips. "Are you sure that's possible?" She asked the question slowly, paying close attention to the expression on her adoptive brother's face. "I thought you said he was dead."

"Yeah, but you're forgetting that people thought I was dead, too," Tommy reminded her. "And yet here I am, alive and kicking."

"'Alive' isn't quite the word I would use, mate," Avalon said. She brought her hand up and ran a hand through her hair, ignoring the unamused look he shot her way. "Either way…it's definitely something we should look into. But right now, we should find Bailey and the others before they get themselves into trouble."

"This is Bailey we're talking about, who just happens to be your sister. Chances are trouble has found her."

"Ha ha." Avalon reached out and shoved Tommy on the arm. Then she turned her attention back down to the dinosaur that continued to spark and sizzle on the ground and brought her foot back, snapping it forward in a quick kick to the side of the head. Tommy jumped at the sudden sound, immediately falling into a fighting stance. "I just wanted to be sure that it was actually dead this time. Sorry about that."

"No problem." Tommy was slow in regaining his composure. But then he finally lowered his hands and turned back towards the jeep. "But I agree. Let's get going before this thing decides to pull itself back together. If it has truly been created by the work that Anton and I put into our studies, then it'll be able to do things even I wouldn't believe."

Avalon nodded and followed her brother over to the jeep and leapt inside. He started up the car once more and drove back towards the museum. If the dinosaur statue was anything to go by, then there was probably going to be something else that would come up. And, if her instincts were correct, there was bound to be something else that was going to come around. Resting her cheek in her palm, Avalon closed her eyes for a moment as she thought about what had transpired that day.

Tommy had some sort of a Command Center set up in their basement that was very clearly supposed to house the powers of the new power rangers. But where did those powers come from? And why was it that Tommy was the one that had come upon those powers? Or was it something else that he had managed to create? If that were the case as was with the Turbo powers, how was it that they couldn't continue to make more and more power rangers when the time came, when there were others that seemed to be passed down if not created from other power sources in the universe?

"Something on your mind?" Tommy asked, noting her silence.

"You mean the fact that you seemed to not mention that you were the next Zordon?"

"Other than that."

"Then 'no'," Avalon said. She let out a slow breath. "I mean…other than wondering…what it would be like to be a ranger again. I mean, I know we all retired, we gave up our powers, we did everything we were supposed to have done. But I miss it every now and then. Nothing kept me more in shape, that's for sure. But then there was the feeling that I was needed for something bigger than myself. Now all I'm good for is writing tell-all books."

"You know it's' a good story," Tommy reminded her. "There aren't many people that go into and out of a street gang that never really wanted to be in it in the first place. Not many people join a gang to be sure their little brothers or sisters are safe. They're more likely to get into it to because of a family tradition if not to _find_ that family." He shrugged. "Last I checked you never really considered going to spend Thanksgiving or Christmas with Chase, Summer, or Skye."

"True…" Avalon shook her head. It had been a surprise, really, that anyone had been interested to know what her life in the Vipers was like. Let alone anyone wanting to turn it into a book. Sure, she had only just gotten the offer and she hadn't decided whether or not she was going to take it up yet, but it was something to do to get some money. As Tommy still reminded her, she didn't have a job yet. But he wasn't one to kick her out, she knew that for sure. "Kind of makes me glad that Rita and Zedd never had the thought of turning them into evil rangers rather than taking someone so nice and turning them into one." She reached out and pinched her brother's cheek. "It must've been cute to see you use your powers for the first time."

"Ha. Trust me; there was nothing cute about it. Being the evil green ranger…I know everyone forgives me for it but, honestly, I don't think it's something that I'm ever going to forgive myself for."

Avalon understood what he meant. Though not in the same way. She had been part of the Vipers for so long that she had thought the rest of her life was going to be spent in the street gang, running from apartment to apartment, doing all she could to make sure that her sister had everything she needed. And she had done everything she had been asked of; kidnapping, extortion, robbing, fighting…she did it all without a second thought, simply because Bailey was the most important thought on her mind. The threat of the rival gangs—the biggest one being that of the High Flyers—wasn't something she put too much thought in as well. Not until it ended up getting her new friends—Tommy, Jason, Kimberly, Billy, Zack, and Trini, caught in the crossfire of her two worlds. And, of course, that was when she had been told of her destiny to have the powers of the Stegosaurus, making her the mighty morphin' orange ranger.

It wasn't the same as her brother's experience, but it was an experience nonetheless. She was never going to forget it.

Pulling the car up to a stop in front of the museum, Avalon immediately unbuckled and climbed out. She brought a hand up to her forehead to block out the sun and looked around. No sigh of Bailey, not of Kira, Conner, or Ethan either. And it was too quiet. That wasn't good.

"Bay!" Avalon cupped her hands around her mouth and started to yell. "Bailey! Where'd you go?" She waited for a response then, not receiving one, pulled out her cell phone. "No bars. We should probably go look for them."

"Good idea," Tommy agreed.

The two started to walk off but stopped when dinosaur-like, reptilian-like, and human-like creatures appeared in front of them out of thin air. With a cry of surprise, Avalon took a step back before falling into a fighting stance alongside Tommy. The group of the ten creatures waved around their arms, moving closer to Tommy.

"What the heck are these things?" Avalon cried.

"Tyrannodrones," Tommy explained. He bobbed his head lightly. "I hate to say it, but I helped Anton Mercer create them."

A light sigh escaped Avalon's lips. "I hate to say it, bro, but you really need to find a hobby." With that, she ducked out of the way as a Tyrannodrone leapt overhead. Rolling along the ground, Avalon leapt back to her feet and sent a strong punch into the stomach of a nearby Tyrannodrone before grabbing its arm and flipping it to the ground. Then she spun on her heel and kicked another one in the face. Seeing there were still seven more converging around her, Avalon backed up towards the jeep and leapt backwards into the backseat.

The tyrannodrones followed her and she brought up her feet, capturing a Tyrannodrone around the neck then she twisted to the side, knocking it down. Flipping herself to her feet she grabbed onto the head of another one and slammed it down into the car door before lifting her back foot and kicked another tyrannodrone in the face. "These guys are tough, but it's nothing we haven't been able to handle before."

She wound back her fist and punched as hard as she could, striking out with a hard kick backwards at the same time, knocking the last two tyrannodrones away from her. They crash landed to the ground and cowered in fear.

Tommy immediately flew into a fighting frenzy against the Tyrannodrones that appeared around hi, In a flurry of punches, kicks, and throws, the former ranger made quick work of the tyrannodrones that encirculated him. "Hiya! Si, hiya! Ha!" Flipping onto his back, Tommy did a judo sweep that knocked the legs of a tyrannodrone out from underneath it, sending it crashing to the ground. Tommy flipped back to his feet and did a high jump kick, incorporating a spinning kick into it as well, knocking two more tyrannodrones in the face. They fell to the ground and the rest of the small group converged upon him, grabbing onto his arms.

Tommy lifted his feet up from the ground and used his falling momentum to throw the tyrannodrones that held his arms forward, knocking them onto the ground. He backed up a few spaces, holding his fists up by his face, and glanced over at Avalon, who had fended off her attackers as well. The tyrannodrones all came together before disappearing back into the sky.

"Looks like we've seen the foot soldiers of the new enemy," Avalon pointed out.

"Yeah, and if they're using the tyrannodrones that Anton and I made…there's only so much else that this enemy has as well." Tommy shook his head. "I don't think I have to tell you that that's not good. C'mon, let's go find the others."

Avalon's thoughts immediately switched back to her sister. If the tyranno drones attacked her and Tommy, there was almost a 100% chance they would attack her and the others as well. And the last thing she was going to do was having anything happen to her sister, no matter what the circumstances.

* * *

Bailey ducked her head as she followed Conner, Kira, and Ethan out of the caves that sat beneath the hillside. She pulled her hair out of her face, looking around the abandoned woods and her shoulders slumped. It didn't seem like they were going to be getting anywhere, anytime soon. Actually, it looked more like where they had just started. Tilting her head back, she looked at the position of the sun and did a quick calculation in her head. Judging by where the sun set in the sky and where it would be going as it set, it meant they were facing the east, and they needed to be going in the opposite direction. Twisting the other way, she found the beginning—or was it the middle—of a trail nearby and made another quick calculation.

They probably wouldn't need more than at least ten minutes to get back to the museum and when they did, they would be coming up from the opposite side. But at least they would be out of the woods.

"We need to do this way," She said, pointing off towards the somewhat man-made trail. "If we continue going forward from the direction we were just going, we'll encircle the museum and make it back to the other side."

"Are you sure about that?" Conner asked, crossing his arms. "Because I don't know about you, but I'd rather not hike through the woods any longer than we already have. Especially if it's to the middle of nowhere."

"I'm sure," Bailey replied confidently. She pushed her glasses up her nose. "I mean, unless you've been certified as a genius…are part of MENSA…" at the stunned expressions on Kira, Ethan, and Conner's faces she raised an eyebrow then gave a pleasant smile. "I didn't think so. We're going this way." With that, she led the group up a small embankment and started forwards once more.

They had only been walking for a few minutes when there was a sudden gust of wind accompanied by what sounded like a ghostly wail. Despite her immediate rational thought that there were no such things as ghosts, Bailey couldn't help but stop along with the other three. There was just something vaguely familiar about the feeling of dread that rolled up and down her spine. It had become a bit of a sixth sense to her—and the other rangers, she was sure.

"What was that?" Kira asked in a low whisper.

"I don't know," Conner replied. He swallowed hard and tried to keep up his appearance of 'cool' running a hand through his hair. "Maybe it was just the wind."

"That ain't the wind," Ethan said. "As much as we'd like it to be, it ain't."

"I may live my life through facts and figures and even I know that nothing ever happens because it's just the wind," Bailey agreed. "Some psychosomatic and subconscious fears manifesting itself, maybe, but it's never just the wind." With that there was another gust that blew her hair out of her face and tugged at her clothes, sudden and strong enough that she had to close her eyes to keep the dirt and debris from blasting her in the face. Once she opened her eyes again she found a horde of prehistoric like creatures standing in front of them. "Told you, mate."

"Don't move," Conner whispered. "Maybe they don't see us."

Due to the sheer stupidity of his statement, Kira, Ethan, and Bailey couldn't help but all turn and look at him with expressions that held varying degrees of confusion. The monsters they took a large step towards the four teenagers. Conner then closed his eyes before holding his hands up defensively.

"They only saw us because _you_ moved," he declared.

"Well, don't just stand there!" Bailey grabbed onto his wrist. "Run!" Dragging him behind her, the four raced off through the woods as fast as they could go. Risking a glance over her shoulder, the former ranger noticed how easily the prehistoric creatures were keeping up with them. It was if their feet weren't even reaching the ground, like they were hovering along behind the teens, moving as quickly as they could.

But they couldn't stop. Bailey turned forward, dropping Conner's wrist, and continued to run as fast as her legs would allow. She only stopped when there was the sound of a ferocious scream behind her. Loud enough so that she came to an immediate stop and slapped her hands over her ears. It didn't sound human. _What was that?_ She whipped around to find Ethan and Conner had stood up, uncovering their ears from the insanely loud sound that had erupted, and raced back over to Kira, who lay on her back on the ground, the area in front of her clear of the creatures.

Bailey stared at her, mind moving at a whirlwind. _That sound…it had to have come from Kira,_ she thought. _There's no way it's a coincidence that it's come after she, Conner, and Ethan picked up that gem stone._ For a moment, she wished she had moved fast enough to pick up the stone. Not just for the added abilities that she was clearly exhibiting, but to get an idea of what components the gems were made of. She'd run as many tests as she could to figure out if it was organic or manmade, what it was made from, who created it, why it seemed to latch onto specific DNA. If it weren't for the DNA match, she would have just as easily been able to have taken that gem herself.

If not it having gone towards her when Kira tried to take it.

As Bailey watched, moving closer to the group, the gem that sat nestled in her pocket started to glow yellow. She inched forward to take a good look at it. The power source seemed to be coming from inside. Yes, she knew what it meant. She knew exactly what it meant. There was no way she and her friends could have gone through their constant battles with evil and not be aware of what it meant when things continued to glow like that. She started to smile, eyes shifting from the expressions of wonder that were on Conner's, Ethan's, and Kira's faces.

The moment was broken when the creature shot towards them again. "Head's up!" Bailey darted in front of the three teens and spun on her left foot, lashing out her right and kicked a creature directly in the middle of the chest, sending it flying backwards. Two more moved along to take the place of its fallen comrade and she sent them down with quick combinations of back fists, palm strikes, and crane beak strikes that quickly knocked them down .Then two more grabbed onto her arms. She lifted her feet and flipped herself backwards before bringing her arms together, crashing the creatures into each other, then flung them onto the ground.

"Whoa!" Ethan cried. His eyes widened in admiration. "Where'd you learn to do that?"

Bailey glanced at him as she continued to rock back in forth in a fighting stance, keeping her eyes on the creatures. "My brother taught me. But it looks like you're about to get your turn to try, yeah?" She nodded over towards the creatures that started to encircle them.

Kira immediately flung herself into action, keeping the creature to her left away from her. She swung her arms out wide and struck a few of the creatures in the face in chest then struck with her feet. The creatures continued to circle around her, striking at her head, face, and chest, but she continued to block each of their shots and duck out of the way. Finally, she sucked in a deep breath and let out a loud, animalistic scream, the sound waves causing the creatures to fall to the ground.

Ethan was kicked in the chest and sent backwards into the waiting arms of two creatures, who immediately latched onto him. Realizing his was caught, he lifted his feet to kick another creature in the chest, but his feet were lifted up off the ground. He struggled to get away, but the three creatures pulled him back once before they flung him onto the ground. He skidded to a stop then got back to his feet, holding his side. A creature stood over him and Ethan crossed his arms as he brought his hands up to cover his head. The creature brought its fist down and there was a sudden flash of light as the creature connected with Ethan's forearm. The African-American teen glanced at his wrist to see it was covered with some sort of a shield-like coating then grinned as he pushed the creature back. His gem glowed in his pocket as he turned and fought back against the creatures, using his newfound abilities to defend himself.

Conner found himself outnumbered fairly quickly. Attacks rained down on his body from all sides and he found a majority of them to rain down on his chest and stomach. One particularly bad strike in his chest sent him off his feet and crashing into a tree where he landed painfully on the ground. He blew his hair out of his face and looked down at the gem in his hand that started to glow red. Tucking it tightly in his palm and he lifted himself to his feet and looked around at the creatures. They were suddenly moving slowly…too slowly. It took him a second to realize that he was moving fast, incredibly fast. To the point that he could sit still and watch as the creatures came towards him and had plenty of time to take a quick soda break if he wanted. Grinning to himself, Conner placed the gem back in his pocket and lifted his foot; kicking one creature away from him, then turned and did the same to the other.

Everything around him moved back to normal speed and he watched as the creatures hurried away, running as fast as they could go. Bailey, Conner, Kira, and Ethan all came back together. "Are you lot okay?" Bailey asked.

"If by 'okay' you mean 'totally overjoyed', then yeah, I'm 'okay'," Ethan replied. The grin on his face was one of a kid that had just been told that he was to get birthday and Christmas presents all within the same month. Like a kid in a candy store. "How much do I _love_ detention?" He added.

Bailey smiled a little. Her eyes shifted behind the group when she spotted Tommy and Avalon heading their way. "Av!" She cried, hurrying to her sister.

"Bay!" Avalon reached her and the two sisters wrapped their arms around each other, holding on tightly. "Are you okay? Should've known you'd get lost, Goober. You always were one of the worst with directions."

"We're fine, Booger," Bailey replied. "Don't worry about it." She turned and repeated 'we're fine' to Tommy, who looked at her anxiously.

"Are you guys alright?" He asked them.

Kira started to respond but Ethan jumped in and beat her to it. "Oh yeah, we're all fine. We didn't really find much. Just the routine hike in the woods where we saw a bunch of furry little creatures."

"And a few scaly ones," Kira muttered under her breath.

Tommy and Avalon exchanged glances while Bailey kept her mouth shut, pressing her lips together. They could talk about what happened later, when they were alone .There was a lot that needed to be explained. And judging by the looks that her sister and brother were giving each other, it seemed that there was something they needed to explain, too. Especially considering the suspicious glance that Tommy continued to place upon his students, to the point that they shuffled their feet and did everything they could not to look at him.

"Are you sure?" he insisted.

"Yeah, yeah, totally," Conner agreed. He then snapped his fingers as if he just remembered something. "So, did you get into the dino exhibit?"

Avalon snorted slightly but stayed silent as Tommy chose to respond with, "Er, they're still working the kinks out. We better get you guys back, c'mon."

"Don't you guys think we should tell him?" Kira asked in a whisper as the young teens all fell into step with each other. Bailey glanced at Tommy's and Avalon's retreating backs but continued to stay silent. She needed to her what they were going to say and report back to them when the time was right.

"I don't know about you, but I've got over a thousand sci-fi DVDs," Ethan said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Bailey guessed so that he wouldn't make the mistake of showing the gem to anyone. "You wanna know how many times the dude with superpowers winds up lying on some government facility tables with wires in his head?"

"Even _I_ know that," Conner agreed.

"Are you guys coming?"

Bailey glanced up at Avalon's sharp tone and found her and Tommy waiting impatiently for the teens to pick up their pace. They moved a little quicker, enough so that it appeased the older man and woman. They walked along for a few moments then Conner spoke up again. "So we're agreed, we don't tell anyone about this, ever?"

"I'll do you one better," Kira declared. She stopped and turned back to the three, slapping her yellow gem into Conner's palm. "I'm out of it. Just forget I was here and I'll do the same." She glared a little bit towards the three teens, as if blaming them for having landed her in detention and then placed her in the woods to find the gem then be subsequently attacked.

Ethan's lower jaw dropped in indignation. "Wait, why does he get it?" He demanded.

"Fine." Kira picked up the gem from Conner's hand and slapped it down into Bailey's palm. The former ranger slid the gem around with her fingers, her fingers running over the cool texture. It didn't glow; it didn't sparkle, and continued to feel cool to the touch. She knew what that meant. Whatever it was, it had bonded to Kira and wasn't going to be used by anyone else. "You can have it."

"But don't you think it's something we should bring up to Tommy," Bailey spoke up. She closed her eyes for a brief moment. "I mean, Mr. Oliver? The guy's a paleontologist, if anyone knows anything about these gems, it's him."

"No way. I'm out remember? I don't want anything else to do with this." Kira turned on her heel and started to walk away. She held her hands up over her head as if to prove her point that she was completely done with the conversation.

"But it _bonded_ to you," Bailey insisted. Then immediately clamped her mouth shut when Ethan and Conner turned her way. _Way to go, boofhead. Why don't you just come out and say that you know that each of them can become superheroes and will find a way to destroy whatever evil it is that wants to take over Reefside? Why don't you say you know Superman while you're at it?_ "I-I mean, there's got to be a reason you lot found them, yeah?"

"We _all_ found them," Conner reminded her. He tossed his gem in the air and grabbed it once more. "Still…it'll be hard to explain everything else…" he started to grin. "No matter how cool it was to be able to move so fast."

"It's probably the only time you'll be able to do it, too," Ethan taunted, causing Conner to glare at him. Then his smirk faded. "No. He'd think we were crazy. We can't tell him anything. We need to keep this to ourselves."

"If you say so." Bailey stayed silent as they all squeezed into Tommy's jeep and he drove them back to their houses. She only spoke up again when he pulled the jeep up to the front of their house. "You guys, I have something to tell you."

Tommy and Avalon exchanged glances again before turning towards the back of the jeep where Bailey looked back at them with wide eyes. "We've got something to tell you, too."

* * *

 **A/N:** Getting to the end of Day of the Dino. The next part is the last one. As you can see I'm changing some things around with the episodes like I did with _All To Blame, Made of Glass, and These Walls._ The fist notable one being that of taking out Kira's encounter with Mesogog. There are going to be other slight changes with episodes as the story goes through them, however like all of the other stories I've written within the Avalon series there is one overarching plot that encompasses the story of which will start with the next chapter as well but has already been alluded to within these three chapters.

I hope you guys are enjoying the story; I'm really having a lot of fun writing it already. We're going to see past rangers and other past characters show up soon. They will get frequent mention before they actually show up in Reefside so there will be a lot of mentions of the past and what not. But still, there won't be any spoilers to _These Walls_ but there will be lots of mentions of things that happened in _All To Blame and Made of Glass._

Thanks to _Ashley, adela, Lizziestrong, and ObsessedwReading_ for reviewing the last chapter.

 **~Avalon**


	4. Chapter 4: Day of the Dino (4)

**Chapter 04**

 _Day of the Dino (4)_

* * *

"So let me get this straight…"

Tommy sighed lightly, lowering his newspaper as Bailey spoke. He looked across the kitchen table where she polished off the last spoonful of her breakfast and pushed the dishes away waiting for the topic of conversation to come up again. Even Avalon who sat on one side of the table lowered her head before bringing her hand up to rub the side of her face.

Bailey pushed her hair back out of her face and an expression of intense concentration as she tried to make sense of the information dump she was given the night before. Tommy folded the newspaper and placed it on the table next to his plate. "Yes, Bay?" he prompted.

"You worked with Anton Mercer to try and create a combination of paleontology and technology thus creating those monsters that attacked us yesterday," she started.

"The Tyrannodrones," Avalon supplied.

"Right. And when you were working something happened so that the island exploded where you survived but it killed Anton. And now that technology that you crated—"

"—the Tryannodrones—"

"—Right, the Tyannodrones, has somehow been crated again with your work with Anton Mercer. And because of that work that the two of you did together, through some sort of projects and experiments, you discovered the Dino Gems that create the powers the new power rangers will use, stuck them in some sort of a hermetically sealed contraption in our basement lab that has been corrupted by Conner, Kira, and Ethan who had since bonded with the Dino Gems and are now going to become the new rangers of whatever evil thing is going to attack."

"Mesogog," Tommy explained patiently. "His name is Mesogog." He reached up and ran his hands over his face. "Look, I don't know how to explain it, but I'm really sorry that I kept it all a secret from you. If I thought that some of my students were going to be the next ones to become the power rangers then I wouldn't have taken the job at Reefside."

"You would have taken the job anyway, Tommy," Avalon reminded him gently. "Considering the circumstances." Tommy nodded in reply. "Your other choice probably would've been Angel Grove High and even then we all know it's almost imperative the same thing would have happened there. It's like the hub of monster attacks and rangers, yeah?"

Tommy smiled a little bit, trying not to laugh loudly. That was the understatement of the year. Angel Grove was so much a hub for monster attacks and alien invasions that when the in Space rangers revealed their identifies to save Angel Grove, the city had been renowned as a historical landsite of the heroes that had protected them for years on end. He was moderately surprised to know over the past years and the past ranger teams that there weren't any other attacks in Angel Grove. To the point that he constantly scoured the news in case something came up again, though there were numerous reports of students winning awards and volunteering that made him proud of his former city.

"The lab down in the basement is the best way for us to track Mesogog and the Tyrannodrones's movements. Not to mention it's a way to keep an eye on Conner, Kira, and Ethan now that they've taken on the powers from the Dino Gems." Bailey continued to stare at him in an almost suspicious manner. "What?"

"Is this like that mission that you did on the moon that you don't talk about?" Bailey asked, drumming her fingers on the table top. Tommy was confused for a moment, not sure how she managed to change the subject to that mission without him realizing it. Then he laughed and shook his head.

"That's for another day," he explained. "Right now we need to talk about the Dino Gems. Now that my students had managed to become bonded to them, Mesogog and the Tyrannodrones are going to do whatever it takes to get to them. Even destroy them." He held up a hand as Avalon and Bailey gave noncommittal snorts to his statement. "I know it sounds like something every single one of our enemies has said, but Mesogog is ten times stronger and more determined than the rest of them have been. We can't take it lightly."

"Okay, so what do we do first?" Avalon asked, taking in the seriousness of the conversation. "If we're going to have the Command Center in our basement now, we'll have to use it to the best of our abilities. Not only for preemptive strikes, but to track Mesogog before he can track us."

"Exactly what I was thinking, Av," Tommy started. "I was thinking—"he trailed off as there was a low beeping sound coming from somewhere in the house. He stiffened for a moment, realizing that it was coming from beneath their feet. Someone was in the house, more importantly, someone had found their laboratory. And if he was correct in assuming—which he was rarely ever wrong—the new rangers had come back to figure some things out, not realizing they were trespassing. And as he had Kira's Dino Gem in his pocket, the one that Bailey had handed over to him after Bailey explained how she didn't want to be in the 'thing' that was the discovery of the gems, he knew it had to be Conner and Ethan.

They were going to give him more than a few gray hairs if he was going to mentor their team.

"Come on," Tommy said, pushing back his seat. "Seems to me we're going to get some questions answered sooner than we thought." He got up from the seat, motioning for his sisters to follow him as they headed down into the basement. Tommy let out a low sigh, feeling frustration creep up into his chest when he heard low voices echoing from the lab. It was Conner and Ethan alright. "If you're looking for some extra credit, you're in the wrong place," Tommy announced his arrival as he, Avalon, and Bailey turned the corner and came into sight of the red and blue rangers.

Conner and Ethan turned away from each other and looked at the three with eyes as wide as dinner plates. They glanced at each other then stood up straight, feigning confidence, clearing their throat as they did so. Finally, Conner spoke up. "Okay, I know that we've broken in here and…we didn't know it would be under your _house_ but there's something that we need to talk to you about and I'm not sure if Bailey told you anything…" he trailed off, his eyes shifting towards the younger brunette.

Tommy felt a sudden surge of annoyance as he watched the red ranger try to find his words. He didn't particularly like the way that he was looking at his little sister. _Then again, Tommy, you had the same issues with Fred and look how that turned out,_ he scolded himself.

When Bailey didn't speak up to let Conner off the hook, he continued with, "but when we were at the museum yesterday, these things attacked us."

"Tyrannodrones, I know," Tommy interrupted, hoping to cut to the chase.

Conner's eyebrows rose and he and Ethan exchanged confused glances. "You know about them?"

"I created them."

"Oh!" Now Ethan looked curious. "Science project?"

"Something like that," Avalon spoke up. She nudged Tommy in the side before standing next to him, arms crossed. "If you were attacked yesterday, why did you blokes wait so long to say something? With some as important as this, it might've been better to bring it up as soon as it happened, yeah?"

"Because…of what these things can do," Ethan said. He nervously licked his lips before reaching into his pocket and pulled out the blue Dino Gem. It shone brilliantly in his palm. "This thing…it's made it so that I have, like, super skin or something. And Conner can run really fast and Kira can scream like some sort of supersonic bat. It was pretty cool when we first did it but…" he trailed off and held up his arm. The chocolate brown skin was covered in a scale-like texture. Bailey moved in for a closer look, running her fingers along the skin. "We can't always control it."

 _Can't always control it?_ Tommy's eyebrows furrowed together and he reached into his pocket for Kira's Dino Gem. He turned it around in his palm. _Their bodies must still be aligning with the dino DNA inside them. If they can't learn to control their newfound abilities, then they'll be targeted for that not only for the gems._ He looked over at Bailey, ready for her diagnosis as she took a step back.

"Looks to me like its directly in comparison to the length of time they held on the gem," she finally explained. "Sort of like exposure to uranium or radiation but not to that extreme." She turned back to Tommy, gently tilting her head to the side. "If we take them away…it might cause havoc on their bodies, not just their physical properties, but mentally and down to the DNA level as well."

"Great," Tommy muttered under his breath. "Just what we need. More innocent people forced into this senseless war." He started to pace back and forth, hoping to quell the guilt of knowing he was at fault for allowing them near the Dino Gems in the first place. But he just had to check out that museum, he didn't think they would have wandered off so far… _You can't blame yourself, Tommy. What's done is done. Now you have to deal with it._

Conner watched as Tommy continued to pace and shuffled his feet. He never felt this nervous, only when his father was getting on him about his grades. But this was different, he could tell. "We're sorry," he apologized. "How were we supposed to know those things had like superpowers and those lizards were going to come looking for them?"

"Well, this isn't something that you see every day," Avalon pointed out.

"Kind of like a science teacher that has the ruins of an ancient civilization under his house?"

"Like, I know this is cool and all, dude. But you and the babes have got to come clean," Conner added.

Tommy stopped pacing, his eyes hardening as he whipped around to face Conner. "First of all," he said in a low tone. Almost a growl. "Don't call me _dude_."

"He prefers 'man'," Bailey piped up with a teasing lift to her tone. She grimaced sheepishly and turned away when Tommy shifted his glare onto her.

Then the former ranger turned back towards Conner. "And don't call my sisters 'babe'." He watched as Conner glanced over at Avalon and then at Bailey, his eyes lighting up in recognition, and then falling once more. "And this whole thing here…you need to trust me. Trust us." He motioned to himself, Avalon, and Bailey. "There are a lot of things that we know you're confused about and we'll give you those answers in time."

"Tommy's right," Avalon added. "I understand that you want noting but answers but right now that's not a luxury to you." Tommy glanced at her, noticing that a familiar expression was now on her face, in her eyes. The same one she used whenever she was being incredibly serious if not a bit frustrated and angry. Thankfully, this time around he could tell it was from knowing there was a new enemy they were going to have to face again. "What you need to focus on at the moment is getting Kira her gem back,"—she took it from Tommy's hand and tossed it to the boys, where Ethan fumbled before grasping it to his chest—"and hope nothing happen when you're around other people because, unfortunately, you still have to go to school."

 _School?_ Tommy looked at his watched and sucked in a shot breath. He almost forgot; they were going to be late. Great, now he had to worry about a guy that could move faster than someone could blink, someone that could thicken his skin about one hundred times, and someone that could scream like a banshee during school hours. He almost missed when he was a ranger when things were simple. "I'll explain everything after school," Tommy promised Ethan and Conner. "Right now, our priority is that we're not late." He turned to Bailey and tilted his head. "Please show them the way out."

"Too right," Bailey said and waved a hand, motioning for Ethan and Conner to follow her out of the basement lab. Tommy waited until they were up the steps and completely out of the way before turning back to Avalon.

"Keep an eye on those monitors and let me know as soon as you can, when something comes up," Tommy murmured to her, hoping the rangers didn't overhear them. "Mesogog isn't going to wait long to attack now that the Dino Gems have been activated. Even then, there's no telling what he's going to do."

"You got it, Zordon," Avalon said with a salute, causing him to roll his eyes lightly. "I really feel like Alpha right now." Then she dropped her jokingly façade and glanced at the former ranger leader with a concerned eye. An air of sadness wafted between them as they thought about their former friend and fallen leader. It hadn't been that long since his passing…the open wounds were still fresh. "How does it feel to be the new mentor?" She asked him.

"It's different," he admitted. "It feels right. And it's not like I'm working on my own. I need all the help you and Bay can give me."

"Well you've certainly got it," Avalon said. She reached out and gently punched him on the shoulder. "Now got to school or you're going to be late. And I'm definitely not going to let you live that down." She dropped down into a nearby chair and swiveled around to face the computer screen nearest to her.

"Yeah, yeah…"

* * *

Conner shifted his backpack up his back as he looked around the crowded hallways for Kira. How hard was it to find a girl when the hallways were crawling with them? The whole school, actually. Normally as soon as he thought of one she was right in front of him as if his own personal fairy god mother had granted him his wish. Now it was like the wicked witch of the west was falling him around, keeping him from being able to attract girls to him like flies to honey.

"Does anyone know where Kira hangs out?" Bailey asked frustration evident in her voice as she walked along with Conner and Ethan. "In the cafeteria or anything." Conner and Ethan both looked at each other and shrugged. "Not even the music room? You boofheads are useless."

"I'm sure she's just in class," Conner defended himself. Not that he was entirely sure where the classroom was any way. He had completely missed it because of his soccer venture. But if he hadn't, then he wouldn't have been able to do…what he could do. The night before he had lain awake all night wondering what it was about the red gem that had allowed him to be able to move so fast. It wasn't just his body movement that he found to move quickly, but his thoughts raced a mile a minute when he was trying to sleep, keeping him up all night.

Then when he was brushing his teeth he had gone through it so quickly that his gums had started to sting before he forced himself to stop. And that was only seconds after he had started. His newfound ability would probably help on the soccer field, but for everything else…

 _That's it._ Conner smiled a mischievous smile and shifted his backpack up his shoulder. "I'll fine her," he declared and before Ethan or Bailey could ask what he meant, he tapped into his power of speed and raced through the school, moving through crowds and twisting and turning through the winding hallways until he found Kira moving to enter Dr. Oliver's classroom.

She blinked in surprise as the sudden gust of wind pushed her hair out of her face and Conner appeared in front of her. "Okay, how did you do that?" She asked, fixing her hair. Then she frowned. "Oh right, those freaky power things. Look, I told you yesterday I want nothing to do with all of this."

"I heard you just fine," Conner said calmly. "But you can't walk away from this. None of us can." He pulled her gem from his pocket—that he had stolen from Ethan without him realizing he had done it—and slapped it into Kira's palm. "You need to keep this with you. Dr. Oliver promised he would explain everything after school today. It's yours." Kira tried to hand it back to him, but he enclosed his hand over hers and looked hard at her. "Look, I know you think I'm just a joke but this is serious. Whatever these things are bonded to us and you wouldn't be able to do your screaming thing if it didn't bond to you."

He removed his hand from hers. "And you owe me for saving your butt yesterday."

Kira narrowed her eyes back at him. "And I'll certainly be kicking yours,"—Kira shoved her Dino Gem into her pocket—"If you touch me again."

"Ooh, troubled waters brewing between you two?" Conner rolled his eyes as he recognized the voice and turned to see Cassidy standing beside the two, arms crossed over her chest with her newsworthy smug smile on her face. Beside her, Devin had his camera pointed towards the two students. "Or a love connection. Is that a rock I see there?"

Kira quickly shoved the Dino Gem into her back pocket then showed off her hands. "What rock? I don't know what you're talking about. Besides, why would I want to get anything from Conner McKnight?" With that, she turned on her heel and walked into the classroom. Conner watched her leave then turned back to Cassidy and Devin, who were now too busy fretting over the viewfinder of the video camera. He looked up over them and saw Ethan and Bailey walking his way and he gave them a thumbs up before ducking into the classroom and taking the first seat he could find. The rest of the class filed in with Tommy filling in behind them and he quickly started class.

"Okay, who can tell me when the Mesozoic period started?"

Beside him, Bailey's hand immediately shot into the air along with Ethan's, and a few half-hearted hands that slowly rose up. Conner shook his head as he flipped open his notebook and started to doodle in it. School was so boring. Even more so now that he had found that red gem. He became so engrossed with his drawing that he hadn't noticed his hand vibrating, shifting rapidly across the page as it rapidly filled in crude, yet impressive drawing of himself on the soccer field. Gasping in surprise, he lifted his hand and watched as it continued to move rapidly, enough so that he dropped his pen to the table top with an audios clatter.

The boy sitting across from him looked at him strangely and Conner quickly ducked his hand into his pocket, mentally screaming at himself to hold still. _What's going on?_ He tried to steady his breathing, so no one else would see that he was freaking out. Then he felt his feet started to shake. _Oh no, not those too!_ But when he looked down he found that he was sitting completely still, feet flat on the floor. Then he was jostled out of his seat and onto the ground as the shaking increased ten-fold, rocking the school seconds before the rooms went dark.

Then there was a stampeding sound and Conner got to his feet just in time to find his classmates had all rushed to look out the window at the completely blackened sky, lightning brewing as they went. Then there was another crashing sound and there were more tremors.

 _"Students remain calm; the mayor has declared a state of emergency. Please report to the front of the school for immediate dismissal."_

Conner usually tuned out that annoying PA system, but now he listened loud and clear. Something was going on in Reefside and they had to get going now. He looked over at Bailey, Kira, and Ethan, who were moving closer to Dr. Oliver, who looked more and more incensed as the seconds passed. He glanced at the four and moved closer to them.

"Dr. O now would be a great time to have that little chat," Kira declared.

"Now's not the time, if Mesogog is doing what I think he is, and then he's set the Bio Zords free. We have to act fast. Come with me." Pointing over his shoulder, he indicated the four should follow him and they rushed outside to his jeep where they climbed in and he drove them downtown. Cars streamed by them in the opposite direction, high beams flashing and horns blaring as residents tried to escape the confusion.

"So are these mechanical dinosaurs friends of ours?" Kira yelled over the sound of the wind whipping around them. She was squeezed into the back of the jeep in between Conner and Ethan, her pigtails stinging the boys with each stroke of the wind pelting them against their cheeks.

"They're Bio Zords," Tommy called back.

"They're fusion powered replicates using actual dinosaur DNA for their neurofunctions," Bailey explained as if rattling off her grocery list.

"Let me guess," Ethan said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "You built them too."

"Afraid so," Tommy replied. "But right now we…" Conner's eyes narrowed as he watched Bailey turn her head and glare at him. She silently shook her head and he corrected himself. "I mean you have to tame them."

"How do you expect us to do that?" He demanded. "It's not like they're little puppies that just need a good, firm 'no', to train them. Those things are huge." He pointed in the distance where a red tyrannosaurus, a yellow pterodactyl, and a blue triceratops were crashing through the city. Tommy didn't reply. He drove the jeep up to downtown Reefside and pulled up to a stop at a safe enough distance from the destruction. Conner got out of the car and looked around, gaping in surprise at the absolute carnage that had been caused. He hoped the dark spot he was seeing on the pavement wasn't blood. All of a sudden there was a flash of bright light and Avalon was at their side, holding onto a metal case. "How'd you do that?" He demanded. "How'd you get here so fast?"

"Later, mate," She snapped impatiently. "This is more important." She turned the case around and opened it, revealing a red, yellow, and blue contraption inside that looked much like the metal dinosaurs attacking.

Tommy reached in and pulled out the red one, handing it to Conner. "These are your Dino Morphers," he explained. "You can use them to morph into the Power Rangers."

"The Power Rangers?!" Conner heard himself crying along with Ethan and Kira.

"Your gems are from the asteroid that crashed into the Earth millions of years ago," Bailey said. "Wiping out the entire dinosaur population."

"When I found them, I recognized their power and hid them so they wouldn't fall into the wrong hands," Tommy explained. "The Gems are yours. They chose you, you didn't choose them. The only way these powers can be taken away are if you're destroyed. That's why Mesogog is going after you."

Conner shook his head. "But we didn't ask for this."

"No one does," Avalon said. "It's part of your destiny."

Tommy nodded at her and turned back to the three teens. "All you have to say is 'Dino Thunder, Power Up', and you'll morph into the Power Rangers, the only thing that can stop Mesogog. It's not going to be easy; no one knows that better than us. But you can do this." There was a loud roar that made them slap their hands over their ears. Turning around, they saw that the dinosaurs came closer. "You're going to have to tame them to use them."

There was a sudden flash of red light and a black and gold metallic creature appeared in front of them, holding onto a large axe. The group fell into a fighting stance as he took a step forward. "You're going to have to go through me, first," it said in a robotically, demonic deep voice. "To get to those Zords."

Conner gazed at the creature and then down to the morpher he held in his hands. He looked at Ethan and Kira as they studied their own morphers and then back to the dinosaurs that continued to stomp around. _Destiny huh?_ Conner thought. _Looks like we're going to see how this goes._ "Are you guys ready?" He asked Ethan and Kira. They glanced at him in surprise before responding, "Ready!"

"Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!"

With that, the three teens morphed. He gazed down at his red covered hands and grinned to himself. There was a sudden golden flash of light and a red and white staff appeared n his hand. "Tyranno staff!" He cried.

"Ptera grips!" Kira said, holding onto her mini-swords.

"Tricera-shield!" Ethan added.

The robot monster lifted an arm and Tyrannodrones appeared in front of him. Conner, Ethan, Kira, Tommy, Avalon, and Bailey quickly flew into battle, making quick work of the foot soldiers. With each punch and kick Conner could feel his grin widening. It was so amazing; all of the power coursing though is body, how easily everything was coming to him. Just like when he was on the soccer field. Maybe this was something he was destined to do.

All of a sudden he felt a sharp pain in his chest and he was thrown off his feet as heat exploded around him. Landing hard on the ground, Conner looked over and saw that Ethan and Kira had been hit too, and that the Tyrannodrones were now gone. The armored monster had attacked them with some sort of a blast.

"Rangers, combine your weapons," Tommy called.

"It'll create the Z-Rex Blaster," Bailey said.

"It's the only power that you have to stop him," Avalon added.

"You got it!" Conner clenched his hand into a fist and he, Ethan, and Kira quickly placed their weapons together until it created some kind of a canon-looking weapon. "Z-Rex Blaster!" They cried in unison. "Fire!"

A beam of energy shot out of the mouth of the weapon and struck the armored monster, causing him to erupt in a fury of fire and flame. It landed hard on the ground before getting back to its feet. He pressed a hand to his chest and disappeared in a flash of red light. It was then that the rangers noticed a scorpion looking UFO gliding over the city.

"What are we supposed to do with that?" Ethan demanded.

"It doesn't look too friendly," Kira added. "Not like any of this does."

"You have to tame your Zords," Tommy said. "Then get them to combine to each other. They're each connected to you. They'll listen to you. Then you can bring them together and go after Zeltrax."

With a nod, Conner closed his eyes, placing his hand on his morpher. He concentrated hard, trying to figure out how to tap into the tyrannosaurus. Was he supposed to be able to read it's mind or something? Red exploded in his vision and he watched as the Tyrannosaurus Zord thrashed around. _It's alright, calm down. I've got you,_ Conner thought. Miraculously, he watched as the Tyrannosaurus Zord turn around and slowly walk towards him. Then it lowered its head, allowing Conner to reach out and pet him. Conner opened his eyes and saw that the real Tyrannosaurus Zord had stopped thrashing about and was turned his way as well. "Yeah!" _It looks like Kira and Ethan did the same as well._

"Let's bring them together," he declared. The three leapt high into the air and landed in the cockpit of their individual Zords. Conner reached out and placed his hand on the disc that sat in front of him, holding the power to the entire Zord. "Combine power!"

The three Zords came together to create the Thundersaurus Megazord. Zeltrax immediately fought back, sending out red laser beams of energy into the rangers' Zords, going as far as to wrap it up in an electrified wire. The rangers struggled to break free then were hit with another blast to the chest and fell to the ground.

"Let's get back up fly!" Kira declared. She maneuvered the Megazord up and used its wings to launch the Megazord high into the air. "Wow, this is awesome!"

"Let's see what else it can do!" Ethan said. He used his Zord to bring up a shield, blasting away the attacks Zeltrax shot their way. Beams of energy flew left and right, shooting off into the distance.

"And one more to go!" Conner cried. He pulled back on the Megazord and it flew higher into the air, directly underneath Zeltrax's ship.

"Dino Drill! Engage!" The tail of his Tyrannosaurs Zord spun as the Megazord shot up into the ship. It cut a whole wide open and the Megazord bust through, immediately destroying the ship and send it crash landing to the ground.

Conner, Kira, and Ethan cheered as Avalon, Tommy, and Bailey watched from the ground proudly. "Never thought I'd see that again," Tommy declared.

"And to think you thought you would get some peace and quiet," Avalon added.

"With you two around, I don't think so."

"Well, there's definitely one thing I won't miss," Bailey said as she started to inch towards the jeep. "Not having to clean this mess up." She blew her hair out of her face, becoming serious. "Let's get back to the house, there's some more we have to explain to them."

* * *

Tommy handed out three silver bracelets to Conner, Kira, and Ethan, each of their Dino Gems resting on top. "You can use these to access your morphers as well as communicate with each other, me, Av, and Bay."

"You need to keep them on you at all times," Avalon added, staring each of them in the eye. "Nothing is worse than something happening and not being able to be reached. It's your responsibility now, to protect Reefside. It's not something to be taken lightly."

"And unfortunately, Mesogog _is_ going to attack you again," Bailey said. She sat on a nearby table, legs crossed and arms resting in her lap. Apart from Tommy and Avalon, who both had stern and serious expression on their faces, Bailey had a smile on hers, as if excited by the whole thing. "They always do. But what you need to remember is that as long as you guys are working together, working as a team. No one can stop you."

"No one," Tommy reiterated. Finally, he managed a smile. "You did good today, guys."

* * *

 **A/N:** Day of the Dino is now done and while other episodes will come into play, they won't be done quite as literally as this episode has. I'm glad you guys are all enjoying it so far. Next chapter brings back a past ranger…who do you think it will be?

Thanks to _sweetredranger, dguice, adela, lizziestrong, brankel1, Ashley, ObsessedwReading, and Razmend_ for reviewing the last chapter.

 **~Avalon**


	5. Chapter 5: Personal Failures

**Chapter 05**

 _Personal Failures  
_

* * *

Mesogog watched in moderate disinterest as Elsa and Zeltrax continued to convulse on the floor in front of him. It was their punishment for having lost against the Power Rangers so easily. They were supposed to have taken the Dino Gems from them and bring them back to Mesogog before destroying the city. Was that so hard?

As another flash of anger rushed through Mesogog, he increased the blast from his psionic powers that caused Zeltrax and Elsa to cry out even louder, starting to shake harder. Elsa's hands lowered from her head and her eyes rolled up as she continued to quake. Foam formed at the corner of her mouth and she flopped like a fish out of water. Finally, Mesogog released his hold amongst his henchmen and took a step back, holding his arms behind his back.

He paced back and forth, over and over again as he waited for Zeltrax and Elsa to stop shaking and regain their composure. It took a long time, but he had that time to think about their next plan. Back and forth. Back and forth. His footsteps were the only sound in the clearing; Elsa and Zeltrax were trained well enough to know that making a sound would anger him further. Finally, when they stood up straight in front of him, he whipped around, the bottom of his cloak dusting his legs, and he glared at his two followers.

"Do you want to explain?" He demanded.

"My lord," Zeltrax started slowly, his gaze angled towards his feet. "We offer no excuses, only apologies and a promise to improve our performance." Mesogog growled lightly as he listened to the explanation that was given to him. He then abruptly turned towards Elsa, who flinched under his gaze as if he was about to strike her.

"Is this correct, Elsa?" He demanded. His demand was quieter, more mild mannered than one would expect, however the malicious threat was still evident within his voice. "Am I to understand that you feel no need to explain yourself?"

Elsa regained her composure, keeping her gaze away from Mesogog. She knew if she looked him directly in the eye she would suffer more than his wrath, more than the psionic torture he had placed upon her only moments before. "Lord Mesogog, it is in my opinion that I would be a waste of your time, time better spent destroying Dr. O and his new power rangers." She risked a glance at him and his lizard like, yellow eyes focused on her before he turned away.

"Exactly the answer I was looking for. Now, have they had any luck in tracking down what we discussed earlier?"

"Oliver hasn't made his move yet, when he does we'll be there to stop him."

"After your failure of the last mission…you better be…"

* * *

Conner looked up from his phone, glancing at the sign that hung above the building looming in front of him. He stepped aside as a mother and her daughter walked along, quickly maneuvering out of his way as he was so engrossed in his text. Calling a quick apology over his shoulder he looked around the area, there was a bit of foot traffic but it there didn't appear to be many people around. Not many people who were over a certain age anyway, as he glanced around he could see many students he recognized from school as well as from the surrounding Reefside area. Shoving his phone into his pocket he looked back up at the sign once more, reading it allowed.

"Hayley's Cyberspace?"

"I see Ethan contacted you, too." Twisting his head, Conner spotted Kira walking her way, shrugging as she went. "Well, now that we're here, why don't we check it out?" Conner shrugged and followed Kira's lead as they stepped inside, pushing open the swinging doors.

The Red Ranger's eyebrow rose as he looked around the café. There were numerous computers fanning the perimeter of the café with a study area towards the back and a large stage set on the other end. Towards the side were tables festooned with colorful chairs and a bar where food and drinks could be ordered. As far as Conner could tell, Ethan had to have died and somehow brought them all to heaven for the place to exist.

"There you guys are," Ethan said as he walked over, a bright grin on his face. Bailey came up behind him, placing her hands in the pockets of her skirt. "My brothers and sister in crime…fighting," he lowered his voice as Kira shot him a pained expression. "So what do you guys think?"

"I just got the tour of the place myself," Bailey added with a light shrug. "It's pretty cool but I like to think that it can't beat Ernie's."

"What's an Ernie's?" Kira asked her. "I don't think I've ever heard of it."

"A juice bar that we all used to go to before I came to Reefside," Bailey said dismissively. "You should all check it out the next time you're in Angel Grove."

"I thought you said you were from Australia," Conner pointed out.

"I am; it's a bit of a long story. But I lived in Angel Grove for a period of time." She waved her hand towards Ethan and the blue Dino Ranger led them through the maze of tables and chairs to look through the rest of the café.

 _Everything's a long story,_ Conner thought as he shook his head. _Our abilities and how these guys seem to know about them._ As if directly connected to his thoughts, Conner's hands started to shake and he sighed heavily, tightening them into fists. It had been a week since he, Kira, and Ethan had been able to morph into the Dino Thunder Power Rangers and defeat the Tyrannodrones and Zeltrax and he still found himself shaking uncontrollably every now and then which was only a precursor to being able to move faster than one could blink. His parents were already starting to worry he was becoming too serious about his soccer practices considering how much he managed to inadvertently zoom around the house, knocking things over when he was just trying to get to the kitchen.

"So you can do basically anything here, game, chat online, listen to music, eat, drink," Ethan broke back into Conner's thoughts.

Kira stared in awe at the stage that was set up with guitars and a set of drums. She pointed towards it, trying not to let her excitement show. "Whose idea was the place?"

"That would be Hayley." Ethan pointed behind them and they all turned to find a young looking red-head sitting on a stool at the counter, smiling and talking with a customer. "Tech genius. MIT grad,"—Bailey's eyebrows rose in surprise—"programming genius. Decided to stop working for big technology and opened up this place."

"Anyway, so what's so important about us being here?" Conner interrupted. He looked at his watch. "I don't know about you, but I have a lot of important things to do. Number one being that I have to get some practice in." He shifted his feet back and forth as if there was a ball resting on his feet. It was a habit he hadn't been able to break since he learned how to juggle a ball. He could never stand still…his step-father wasn't particularly happy with that skill, he seemed to find some way to be annoyed by Conner every day, his biggest irritation being his juggling habit.

Not to mention his studies.

"Well, I figured if we're going to be saving the world together, you may as well see what I'm all about," Ethan said. He waved as Hayley walked over to the group and flashed them with a bright smile. "Hey Hayley, apple juices all around?"

"Coming right up," Hayley replied. She looked over the faces of the ranger and landed on Bailey for a moment. "Abigail Oliver-Mitchell, right?" She asked her. Bailey nodded and started to open her mouth but Hayley beat her to it, "But you go by Bailey. Tell your brother I'll be visiting him shortly." The Australian teen smiled and nodded. Then she turned her attention to Kira. "And Kira Ford, you like to sing, right? How would you and your band like to perform here on Friday in a sort of an audition?" Her eyes shifted to the stage behind her then back to the Yellow Ranger's, whose eyes widened in shocked surprise.

"Yeah!" She finally said. "I'd _love_ that! _We'd_ love that! Thank you so much."

Hayley chuckled."Don't thank me yet, you still have to perform."

Conner raised an eyebrow, tilting his head to the side. Right, like this girl would be able to figure out everything about all of them. She may be part of one of the biggest schools in the country that was well known for their smarts, but even _that_ was ridiculous. Being there was ridiculous. Just because Ethan wanted to show him some of his nerd world, what made him think Conner even wanted to be there. Anywhere with a ball at his feet or a girl on his arm was where Conner wanted to be. That suited him just fine. They weren't friends; they didn't need to act like it. _I wonder how much longer I have to be here until I can leave?_ He studied his watch, willing time to move faster.

"And I see that you're a little antsy, Conner McKnight," Hayley continued. She tilted her head to the side, her green eyes boring into his, almost hypnotizing. "I thought you would be at the open tryouts for the Reefside Wave, they're practicing right now."

Conner's head whipped to the side and he stared at Hayley to see if there was anything in her face that would give away the joke. Surely she had to be kidding, the Reefside Wave was the best travel soccer team in the city and while he was on his high school team as well as a sort of Parks and Rec team, the Reefside Wave was his biggest goal. Finally, when he noticed Hayley's smile, Conner leapt his feet and raced out of the café to where he parked his car. Thankfully he had the habit of leaving his clothes in the trunk so that he would be ready for a pickup game at a moment's notice. If they had only just started practicing, all he had to do was apologize profusely and hope they would still let him tryout.

When he arrived at the tryouts he quickly changed into his practice clothes and raced on field, hoping to blend in without anyone noticing that he hadn't been there for so long. Unfortunately he had to register and as he did so the coaches bestowed him with annoyed glances. He smiled sheepishly at them and joined the others on the field, blending in with them easily. He couldn't help but grin as he raced back and forth across the field, following the drills along with everyone else that was trying out. When they took shot on goal he did headers, assists, and penalty kicks, anything that would show how skilled he was and how they needed him on the team. Every now and then he would sneak a glance at the coaches and found them nodding in approval every now and then. He grinned but did his best not to let it show.

He knew he was good; he didn't need to brag about it. But something else caught his eye as well, someone sitting in the stands. It wasn't strange to see family members of those that were trying out in the stands, watching them intently. But he didn't see who the man belonged to, who was watching the field with the same sort of intensity he showed when playing. The man was dressed in a purple t-shirt and black workout pants, shoes resting on his feet but with the laces untied as if he had just come from a practice of his own. His eyes met Conner's and the corner of his mouth turned upwards in a friendly smile. Conner gave him a double check before focusing on the game once more; briefly wondering if he had ever seen that guy before.

 _Maybe he's related to Ethan,_ Conner thought. He shook his head. _Focus, Conner. That's not important right now. Just pay attention to the game._ He continued to run around until he heard the sound of communicator going off. He brought his hands to his face and let out a low growl. Why? Why did it have to happen now? He looked over his shoulder before racing off the field as fast as his legs could take him. As he approached the bleaches, the man turned his way and cupped his hands over his mouth.

"You look like you've got somewhere important you need to be," he called. Conner slowed his steps and started to jog in place as the man walked over to the edge of the bleachers and leaned against the railing. He continued to smile down at Conner as if they were old friends. "Let me guess, it's something so important that you don't have a choice but to leave?"

"Yeah, something like that," Conner said slowly. He looked over towards a nearby clearing, knowing it would be the best place to go morph. But something about the way the man spoke to him, as if he understood everything, gave him pause. "How'd you know?"

"Let's just say I've been in your position before," he remarked, leaning back a little. Conner's eyes lowered to the markings that twisted and twirled up the man's arms. Tattoos. He could see them so clearly, suddenly remembering his mother's wish for him to stay away from people like that. But this guy didn't seem too bad. As a matter of fact, he was really friendly. "Believe me when I say that soccer is always going to be there. It might not be in the way you expect or the way you want it to, but it'll always be there. Sometimes you have to make hard decisions…tough sacrifices to understand that."

"Thanks." Conner looked over his shoulder and grimaced when he spotted the coaches staring his way, shaking his head. "But I have to go. If they ask…please tell them I'll be back as soon as I can." He turned and started to run over to the clearing. One he was alone he brought up his morpher. "Dino Thunder, Power up! Ha!"

Conner teleported to the fight to find Ethan, Kira, Tommy, and Avalon already there with Ethan and Kira morphed. He fought hard against the Tyrannodrones, summoning his sword to block Ethan. Then summoned his Tyranno Staff, taking down as many Tyrannodrones as he could. Planting it hard into the ground he lifted himself up and ran in a circle, kicking down as many Tyrannodrones as he could. Around him, Ethan and Kira used their Tricera Shield and Ptera grips to take down the Tyrannodrones that came their way while Avalon and Tommy held fast onto bags that clung to their backs, Elsa and Zeltrax doing their best to knock them down and take the bags they clung onto. Finally, sensing they were outnumbered, Elsa and Zeltrax leapt backwards away from the rangers.

"We're not through with you, Power Rangers," Elsa hissed.

"Nor you, Doctor Oliver!" Zeltrax added.

Tommy breathed a sigh of relief as he tightened his grip on his own bag. "We need to get them back to my place," he said to the rangers. "And I'm sure Bailey's starting to get worried anymore."

"More like frustrated," Avalon corrected him. "You know she hates being left out." She turned her bag forward and peered inside it. "Though in this case I don't think it's a disadvantage. Who knows what could have happened to these things."

"I don't know about you guys, but I have to get back to the tryouts," Conner said quickly. His heart hammered against his chest within his suit, this time knowing that he was running late to get back. "I'll catch up with you guys later."

Conner hurried back to tryouts and sighed when he saw that the field was starting to empty. However, the man he had been speaking to before was still sitting in the stands, as if waiting for him. His shoulders slumped as he walked over to the man. The man shrugged, turning to him.

"I'm sorry, man, I tried to get them to stay as long as I could," he said then stepped onto the ground beside him. He reached out his hand and placed it on Conner's shoulder. "Trust me when I say there's always going to be a second chance." Conner nodded, though he didn't quite believe the man. His stomach dropped to his feet. He blew it for sure. There was no way they were going to let him try out again. Or talk to them to see if there was even a possibility for a private one. "By the way I was hoping you could help me with something."

"Yeah…what's that?" Conner couldn't keep the frustration out his voice. His mother and step-father were going to be incredibly disappointed that he let such a great opportunity slip through his fingers. Much more so than they would be about his grades. This was an all-time screw-up and he wasn't going to have it be forgotten anytime soon. Every time he screwed up it was the same thing.

Why would this time be any different?

"Do you know where Tommy Oliver lives?"

* * *

Tommy let out a sigh as he and Avalon walked back through the doors of their house, gently holding onto their bags. Bailey came flying out from one of the back rooms, where Avalon could hear the sound of the TV blaring, and screeched to a halt in front of them, socks sliding against the ground. "Well?" She demanded. "Did you find them? Last I heard Ethan and Kira left the Cyberspace café in a hurry and I was banished back here."

"That was for an important reason, Bay," Avalon pointed out, carefully handing her bag over to Tommy. "I know nothing about the inner workings of the lab downstairs other than being able to check my email and do some basic things. If anyone can run the 'Command Center' in our absence, it's you, yeah?" She used air quotes around the words, causing Bailey to smile.

"What'd you find?" She repeated.

Tommy motioned for the girls to follow him to the living room and they sat down with the bags placed in front of them. He carefully opened them and pulled out three gray eggs that had different spots of color; red, blue, and yellow. Bailey tilted her head to the side and studied the eggs for a long moment.

"Something tells me we're not supposed to eat these," she commented.

"Definitely not," Avalon agreed. She paused for a moment, leaning back in her seat. Then she brought her hand up and started to absentmindedly run her fingers over the scar that sat across her left shoulder, peeking out from underneath the straps of her tank top. Noticing her movements, she lowered her hand to grab her ankle, pulling her legs up underneath her as she sat on the couch. "Though trust me when I say we went through hell for them, too."

"When the island blew, it scattered some of my experiments around," Tommy explained. "I got a reading of them on one of my computers. We need to hatch them so that the rangers can ride them."

"So kind of like the shark cycles," Bailey said with a nod. Then her smiled faded and she tilted her head to the side. "But we're actually supposed to sit back and hatch these things like we're a bunch of chooks?" Tommy snapped and nodded towards her. Her eyes then lit up and she rubbed her hands together. "I think I get it, mate. Because these are created from technology as well as dino DNA, you and Mercer fulfilled the phase of gestation for…whatever the lot will be…so the phase would be hastened as long as we keep it temperate like an authentic chicken egg."

"Exactly," Tommy agreed. "So we need to get these into the holders down in the lab. But for right now the bags will do just fine."

"The only thing we have to do besides that is make sure that they react well with their riders," Avalon added. "Like the Dino Zords, they need to be tamed. With the technology we have down in the lab—"

"—as well as Av not taking crap from anyone," Tommy broke in.

"It shouldn't be too long before these things are ready for Conner, Ethan, and Kira to use against Mesogog and his lot of monsters." Avalon crossed her arms over her chest. "The boofheads can try as long as they want, but they're not getting these eggs."

"You can't underestimate them, Av," Tommy pointed out. "We've done that one too many times with Rita and Zedd and the Machine Empire. We can't make that same mistake now."

Avalon held up a hand. "Sorry, I forgot I was talking to a former leader here." Tommy was too engrossed in examining the Dino Eggs to respond, but came to life when the doorbell rang. His head shot up and he thought for a moment, eyes shifting back and forth. "Wonder who that would be."

"If it were any of the others they probably would have knocked," Bailey pointed out. She pushed her glasses up her nose. "Maybe you've stopped being a hermit long enough to have someone come and visit. Finally." She started to get to her feet but Tommy beat her to it, holding his hands out towards Avalon and Bailey as he got up from his seat and moved towards the front door. Exchanging glances, the sisters got up after their brother and waited for him to open the door.

For a moment, Tommy stared at the man that stood on the other side of the door, then he grinned when the man clapped loudly, taking a few steps backwards. "Man, I wouldn't have believed it if that guy didn't tell me that you lived here. But here you are!"

"Zack," Tommy greeted the former black ranger with as much excitement as he did him. Laughing, the two came together in a tight hug, slapping each other on the back. "It's been too long."

"I know, man, I know," Zack agreed. "Things have been hectic." He let go of Tommy and took a step back. "Things have been real hectic, but I knew I had to look you up when I heard you were here." Then Zack's eyes shifted behind Tommy's shoulder and landed on Bailey, whose eyes lit up as soon as she saw Zack. "No way! Is that little Bailey?!"

"Zack!" Bailey squealed.

Tommy stepped out of the way and allowed Zack to walk into the house, closing the door behind him. The former black ranger immediately grabbed Bailey and lifted her up off her feet in a strong hug, rocking her back and forth. "Girl, it's so good to see you!" Zack declared, holding her tightly. He then set her down. "You look so beautiful, too. Tommy was right in the way he freaked out about your dating back then if only he knew what you would look like now."

"Ha ha," Tommy said sarcastically.

Bailey rolled her eyes. "I have enough memories of him breaking up my and Fred's dates because of his freakish overprotective tendencies, mate, to last a lifetime." She grinned. "It's great to see you."

"And good to see you, m'lady." Zack gave a mock bow and turned to Avalon, who could do nothing but stare at Zack.

She couldn't help it. It had really been a long time since she had seen him. When Adam had taken over his powers of being the black mighty morphin' power ranger…it wasn't for the same reason that Jason and Trini had left. They left for noble reasons; Jason went to stay with an uncle that was struggling with substance abuse, Trini went to visit family that lived in Vietnam—though that could also be explained as her parents not wanting her to date the former blue ranger at the time—and Zack…well…it had been noble. He had been trying to help her.

As Avalon brought her hand back up to her shoulder, running her fingers over the bumpy scar of her shoulder, she couldn't help but let flashes of her past roll through her head. Being part of the street gang the Vipers caused more trouble than it was worth. Nightmares plagued her for years and she found herself constantly holding her double life within it even when she had become accustomed to her destiny as the Orange Stegosaurus Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger. After causing a chaotic ruckus at prom—resulting in her getting shot in the shoulder—Zack had tried to help her out as she worked to get out of the gang. Unfortunately he ended up morphing to escalate the fight between Summer and Skye—the last two Vipers that were left of the street gang—and in turn he ended up losing his powers.

"Hey Zack," She greeted him, finally finding her voice.

"Hey Av." If Zack felt angry at her about not being able to still be a ranger, having to leave Angel Grove, just as she feared he would over the years, he didn't show it in his face. As a matter of fact, the smile on his face that lit up his eyes was so genuine she felt years of tension and worry immediately fall away.

In all actuality, Avalon owed him her life.

* * *

 **A/N:** So this story will go through the episodes with changes, but like _All To Blame, Made of Glass, and These Walls_ there's an overreaching plot that encompasses the story, of which will not entirely come into play until all of the past rangers that are needed show up.

Thank you all for the reviews from the last chapter as well as the kind words and excitement you show for this story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter just as well. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Holidays.

Thanks to _razmed, lizziestrong, dguice, adela, Ashley, and brankel1_ for reviewing the last chapter.

 **~Avalon**


	6. Chapter 6: Catching Up

**Chapter 06**

 _Catching Up_

* * *

"So before I get into the back story of everything in my life, I wanted to tell you guys that I ran into someone that you may know," Zack commented, rubbing his hands together. He licked his lips before looking at his friends and former rangers. They sat on the couches and chairs across from him, listening intently. "I was at this soccer practice that was going on earlier today, down at the soccer field by the park and there was this guy there that was really good. It looked like the coaches were really feeling him, y'know?" He grinned rubbing the stubble on his chin then grinned. "It was pretty sweet. The guy had skills."

Tommy, Avalon, and Bailey nodded as they listened, but were a bit unsure as to what it had to do with anything. Zack sensed it and cleared his throat before composing himself once more. "Anyway, I didn't think anything about it until he went sprinting off the field as if he had just been called away to war." He bobbed his head to the side, a glint coming to his eyes. "Which he may as well have been. Something tells me that he might have had something to do with that certain rainbow colored, spandex-wearing team we were part of back in the day."

"Was that really spandex?" Avalon's nose wrinkled as she tilted her head to the side. "It didn't really cling like it."

"I was wondering the same thing," Bailey added. "I mean, of all the time I've spent working on it and creating upgrades to the suits they didn't really have the same sort of bend like spandex. I reckon it was made from alien wear, yeah? How advanced are they with their goods anyway?"

Zack laughed and Tommy rolled his eyes. "It's good to see things haven't changed much around here," he commented. "You two annoy Tommy as much as you did back then." His smile faded after a second and he gestured towards his friend. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to go to the funeral."

"Thank you," Tommy said. "It was nice. Their respects were paid very well." He scratched the side of his neck and locked Zack in a stare. "About that guy you were talking about? The one on the soccer field…was his name Conner McKnight by any chance?"

"Yeah! That was it!"

"Oh, that's the soccer practice that Hayley was telling him about," Bailey pointed out.

Zack's features twisted into an expression of confusion. "Hayley?"

"Hayley Ziktor," Tommy explained. "She's someone I became friends with while I was at MIT." He frowned as Zack burst out laughing once more. "What's so funny?"

" _You_ at MIT?" When Tommy nodded the former black ranger laughed once more, leaning back in his seat and continuing to guffaw as the seconds passed. "I'm sorry, are we still talking about the same guy that managed to be late to nearly every single class of his high school career even though he went to the same rooms every day?"

"He really did got to MIT, mate," Avalon defended her brother. "He studied paleontology and is now a science teacher at Reefside High. That's where he knows Conner."

Zack finally stopped laughing as the words sank in but he still smiled. "Oh…so you know all about the Power Rangers and stuff then," he commented and Tommy nodded. "And you have something to do with it?"

"Yes. Hayley and I created the Dino Thunder Ranger powers and they were bestowed upon Conner, Ethan James, and Kira Ford. Conner is red, Ethan is blue, and Kira is—"

"—Let me guess, pink right?"

"Actually, she's yellow."

"And there are only three of them?" Zack's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Do you think that will be enough to take down whatever villain of the week we have this time around? It took about seven of us to even remotely take down Rita and Zedd and they were chased off by The Machine Empire." He bobbed his head. "From what I've heard anyway." He continued to rub his hands over each other as if it were a nervous habit.

"You heard of all of that but you didn't hear that Tommy became a teacher?" Bailey blurted out before she could stop herself. She slid down in her seat when Avalon and Tommy both turned to her with a glare. Zack held out his hand to protest the younger girl's question.

"No, it's alright," he said. "I, uh, I know I haven't been around much. Even when I moved away so quickly I didn't really talk to anyone afterwards and I wanted to explain that a bit." He cleared his throat and Avalon looked down at her lap. "I don't blame anyone for this. I lost my powers because I was helping a friend just as I would have helped anyone else. It was everything that happened afterwards that wasn't so great. I'll admit I was a bit angry at having to move, but we had to for our own safety. Having taken down the Vipers like that, after they had seen my real identity, it wasn't safe. Mom and Dad moved us away to live closer to our relatives and it wasn't in the best area. It didn't take long for them to figure out that I had been the one to take down Summer and Skye, I guess news like that travels fast."

"You have no idea," Avalon muttered.

Zack nodded. "And there were people constantly coming by the house or coming up to me at my new school to try and coerce me to join them. I resisted for a while but as I'm sure the rest of you guys know they can be very persuasive." He let out a long sigh. "Long story short, I got into a lot of trouble and was in way over my head. I got picked up, charged, and went to jail for a while. When I got out, I couldn't face you guys because I didn't want anyone to see that I went from someone that wanted nothing more than to have fun and dance and hang out with my friends to someone that didn't know how to stand my ground and stay 'no' or that I wasn't comfortable doing something. I was someone that wasn't living up to what a ranger was supposed to be. But I don't entirely regret it, it made me learn to appreciate everything and everyone and I think it was actually good for me in some ways."

Avalon twisted her mouth to the side. She then sat up straight and started to speak. "Zack, I'm sor—"

"No." He held up his hand, effectively cutting her off. "Don't apologize. I already told you I don't need you to apologize. None of this was your fault. Though it wasn't ideal, I wouldn't change any of what happened. The only thing I can apologize for is that I broke off communication with you guys. I'm really sorry about that."

"It's alright, man," Tommy reassured him. "The past is the past. We can't dwell on it." He cleared his throat then changed the subject. "What we need to focus on now, is this new team of rangers. Conner, Ethan, and Kira haven't been rangers long, only a few weeks and I can already tell that the excitement of it is going to wear off soon."

"Sooner than you think," Zack said. "You know that soccer practice I was telling you about? I think Conner is already starting to see that he's going to have to make sacrifices when being a ranger. He looked like he didn't want to leave the practice and was really upset when he went back and saw the scouts were already gone."

"That's what the rest of us have really had to figure out and it's not easy," Avalon reminded him. "Not only when I was in the Vipers did I have to split my time between that and my ranger duties, but I had to do the same thing when taking care of Bay. But I quickly learned not to worry so much about what I wanted. Unfortunately that's something that being a ranger means, yeah? We can't always have everything our way but saving lives and protecting the city is more important than what we want."

"Yeah…I have a feeling it's going to be harder for Conner to figure that out," Bailey said slowly. She reached up and scratched the back of her head. "It looks like Soccer is his life. I haven't been to this school long, I haven't known the bloke for a long time, but he _always_ has a soccer ball with him. The way he raced off to the practice…it's definitely more than a game to him."

"I was thinking maybe I could talk to him a little bit," Zack added. "I kind of did when I first saw him—"

"You were watching the practice?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah. I was looking around for your address and took a break. It's not that easy to find you, man. You live out in the middle of nowhere."

"I like my privacy."

"You mean you don't want anyone to know about your interests in rangers and all that. Especially since you're the one that created everything. So that means you must know the guy that they're going against?"

And Tommy explained everything about the new Dino Thunder Power Rangers Zack listened quietly and intently. His eyebrows continued to rise as he heard about Anton Mercer, Mesogog, Elsa, Zeltrax, the Tyrannodrones and everything in between. He never thought it was possible for someone on Earth to have created the powers and then he wondered _why_ Tommy had created them. He didn't really think Tommy's and Anton's mixture of dino and technology was that bad, but having created the Tyrannodrones was big. The fact that this Mesogog guy had managed to take them over, that explained why the Power Rangers had to be made this time around.

Tommy was a really good range rand a great leader, but to see that he was being so…secretive about everything was strange. Even sitting across from him Zack couldn't help but get the feeling there was something Tommy wasn't saying. _Oh you've got to be kidding me._ It didn't take long for him to figure out. "They don't know that you used to be a ranger, do they?"

"No, I haven't told them that me, or Av, or Bay hae been rangers before," Tommy said.

"And it probably won't be long until they figure it out for themselves, mate," Avalon pointed out. "There's no way we can explain everything we know about what it means to be a ranger and all of the monsters they're going up against before they get suspicious."

"Or that there's a freaking laboratory in their teacher's basement!" Zack added. "How about that?"

Avalon and Bailey laughed as Tommy smiled a little bit. He ran his hands over his face and through his hair. "Yeah, I know. It's not easy but I do have reasons for keeping them in the dark. At least for now. I'm going to tell them when the time is right. If you do want to talk to Conner, to try and give him an idea of what it means to have to decide between two important things, then feel free."

"Right, you want me to talk to him about making a decision between his life and his ranger duties…and keep the topic off of being a ranger?" Zack gave an exaggerated thumbs up, rolling his eyes. "Right, that makes sense."

Tommy rolled his eyes but laughed with the others.

* * *

Bailey ducked out of the way as Tommy sent a punch towards her head. She followed it up with a judo sweep and when Tommy moved out of the way she charged forward with a flurry of punches and kicks. She knew everything he was going to do before he did it, he didn't make many changes in his fighting style as the years passed, adapting to whomever he was fighting against but typically doing the same over and over again.

However, as much martial arts Tommy had taught her over the years, there was still plenty he knew that Bailey didn't. He waited as Bailey continued to strike him where he knew she would strike, then he ducked behind her faster than she could move and grasped her hand, wrenching her arm behind his back and used his other arm to press around her neck, subduing him.

"Point," Tommy said then backed away from Bailey. She sighed heavily, turning to face him with a pout. "Don't look at me like that; you were the one that left yourself open like that."

"Yeah, yeah…" Bailey tilted her head back and ran her hands over her hair. She let out a low sigh and started to pace in a circle, one of her habits when she was frustrated. That had been the fifth time he managed to get a point on her with little difficulty. It wasn't that she wasn't trying, either, but she could at least admit her mind wasn't completely on the sparring. Now it was on the bruise that was starting to form on her elbow the last time she had been knocked to the practice mats, otherwise she couldn't stop thinking about these new rangers and the eggs they were trying to hatch and…and everything.

She had moved to Reefside after her adoptive parents' deaths and to make sure Tommy was okay. Now she was in a new high school with a tyrant for a principal that gave her a detention on her first day, completely besmirching her perfect school record, and dealing with power rangers again. She hadn't thought she was going to deal with that for a while, at least not so soon. She was still grieving over the tragedy, she was completely new to a city she hadn't heard of before, and now she was supposed to act as a sort of mentor towards kids who were own age and were power rangers.

To be honest she was a little jealous. Jealous that they were getting to experience the excitement of being a range for the first time all over again. Jealous they were able to do something that gave them meaning. Being a mentor was important, she understood that. On her earlier teams she went from a technical advisor to a ranger back to a technical advisor and that was okay. But to sit back and watch as the others did something and not work in a more hands on way was what she _wasn't_ looking forward to. Especially considering Tommy was now the one that understood everything behind the technology and science of everything they were to come across.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," she said. Placing her hands on her hips Bailey leveled her gaze at her older brother. "I haven't been doing a great job today; you don't need to rub it in." She turned and went to the bag that sat on the other side of the room where a lunchbox had been set up, filled with the three eggs they had saved from the Tyrannodrones. Glancing at it, she studied the bright red, blue, and yellow spots on the eggs, wondering if she would be able to see if what was inside was moving, signaling they were to hatch soon. "They're not ready yet."

"Bay." Tommy moved over to Bailey's side and placed a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?" Bailey shrugged, continuing to look at the eggs. "Hey, come on." He grasped her arm and walked her out to the center of the floor covered in practice mats and motioned for her to sit. Bailey followed his lead and sat down with him, but kept her gaze behind his head, on the computers they used to track Tyrannodrone movement. "You remember one of the benefits of martial arts?"

"Having a sound mind and body," Bailey repeated, shifting her eyes back to her brother. He nodded. She nodded to. To be honest, she wished Avalon had decided to learn martial arts along with her. Maybe she would have found some peace of mind sooner rather than later. It had taken along time for her to have thought of their former teammates as her friends despite Bailey liking them all instantly. She understood why, but…it helped. Having moments of meditation aided in working through some of her toughest issues to deal with.

"And you can't have a completely sound mind and body by meditation alone, talking helps too," Tommy added.

Bailey sighed again, her shoulders rising and slumping. "I'm worried," She finally said. "I'm worried about a lot of things. I'm not one to judge, but going off of appearances Conner is a bit of a boofhead and I don't truly believe he's a red ranger. Not at the moment. It seems to fit Ethan better. He's at least taking it seriously."

"Bay, you don't know—"

"—I was there when we found the Dino Gems," Bailey interrupted. "I watched the way they reacted to the gems and he didn't want a lot to do with it. Instead he focused more on you and what it was that you were keeping. Rather than the task at hand. Even Kira tried to throw things away and…well I know Jason and the others didn't react well when it came to getting their Power Coins for the first time, but they turned back quickly and took it. These guys had to be convinced of it over and over again."

"I'm sure there's something else…" Tommy insisted.

Bailey leaned forward and whispered, "He's not that smart." Startled, Tommy started to laugh hysterically. Then he covered his mouth with his hand when Bailey glared at him, proving she was being serious. "I don't mean it in a bad way at all, but he skipped your first class to play soccer and got detention for it. At least Ethan got detention for using his skills and interests, and Kira too. If this is supposed to be a red ranger, he needs to shape up soon. I don't have a lot of faith at the moment, yeah?"

Tommy took a deep breath, his chest swelling, then dropping his hands to his lap. "I know you're worried, Bay. It's always hard to put your faith in a new team. It was hard when I left the Turbo team and turned things over to TJ but I know it as the best move to make. I could see it in him, that he had what it took to be a ranger. We have to do the same for these new guys. The Powers chose them for a reason, just like it had done for the rest of us. Even if we can't see it now, it'll show up. I think there was a glimmer when Conner left his practice to help us out."

"From what Zack said, he easily could have stayed," Bailey pointed out.

"And that's why Zack is going to talk to Conner again," Tommy pointed out. "And we've all needed that talk at one point or another. Who better than to have Zack do it? Remember his Dad didn't want him to dance; he just wanted him to play football. And Zack found a way to do both of them as well as juggle his ranger duties. I think Conner will figure out sooner or later what's going to work for him." He looked away. "It's not like anyone can go and pick up a Gem and be a ranger."

Bailey chewed her lower lip as she watched her brother's expression. She knew he missed it as much as she did, but she knew he was blaming himself for everything that was going on. He was the one that worked with Mercer to create the very things that were attacking the city. He thought they had been blown up along with his partner and now his creations were causing havoc.

She would've been upset too.

"I think that'd be worse, honestly," Bailey pointed out.

"So do I," Tommy agreed. He cleared his throat and looked his little sister in the eye. "I know you're feeling out place. But I'm going to need yours and Av's help. Our roles are always going to change in life and I think you and Av would be great as mentors."

Bailey raised an eyebrow.

"I'm serious, Bay. I know you've always felt that you've lived in Av's shadow, but you've really come out on your own within these past few years. You're very smart and you have a confidence about you that's different than me or Av. Of course I'll be working on them with their martial arts, and I'll have Av work on their marksmanship."

"What am I supposed to do?"

Tommy reached out and gently grasped Bailey's shoulders. "Everything, Bay. I need you to do whatever I tell you because I know you can do it. And the fact that you're the same age as these other guys can help them more than you realize. You understand what they're going through _and_ you know what it's like to be a ranger on the field and a ranger in the lab. You can do it. Okay?"

Bailey nodded.

Tommy then brought his hands up to her face and blew a raspberry on her cheek, causing her to laugh and twist away from him as Tommy continued with his tickle torture.

* * *

Avalon leaned back in her seat as she looked over the papers resting on her deck. Along with their school photos she needed as much information on Conner, Ethan, and Kira as she could. From what Bailey had told her so far, it was surprising if the three—or four where Bailey was concerned—became friends. Though that wasn't to say the original team wasn't similar in some way. Conner reminded her of Jason, though a little less book smart, Ethan reminded her of a combination of Billy and Zack in his smarts and being passionate about gaming, and Kira reminded her of a combination of herself, Kimberly, and Trini. She never thought any of them, realistically, would have been friends but she was proven wrong. The original rangers had been friends since they were young kids despite their differences in interests and personalities.

But these guys, they were very different. Avalon leaned forward and looked over the scanned newspaper clippings of Conner. He had been a soccer phenom almost as long as he could walk. With his team winning more games than she had ever heard for a parks and rec team, he went on to join his school teams as well as the travel team and got enough awards and plaques that it could fill up an entire room. Not to mention being named the youngest captain of Reefside High's soccer team as a freshman. Ethan, on the other hand, got more than enough awards and certificates through his science and math awards. Nearly every competition he entered since he was a kid he won and managed to still find time to play his won games. With the prize money he continued to win he probably had tuition for any college already worked out. Kira, on the other hand showed her talent in different ways; starting from elementary school she worked in plays and music classes, then in middle school she had done the same, switching back and forth from the electives every semester. It wasn't until eighth grade that she started to focus on her own music, dropping out of her band class to focus on her own music.

Still she managed to get awards in her English classes with her poetry, stories, and composition writing, winning nearly every contest she submitted to. The spotlight certainly was for her and she was going to go far no matter what she did.

 _These guys are so different,_ Avalon thought as she continued to look over their criteria. _But they did hold their own when they were faced with the Tyrannodrones. Even when they were trying to make sure we kept onto the eggs they didn't hesitate when going after Zeltrax or those Tyrannodrones. Still…_ she shook her head. There was something about it that made her feel a bit uneasy. It was as Bailey said, soccer was Conner's life and apparently Ethan's gaming and Kira's music were just as important. It was easy to let their insecurities and worries about their personal lives to get become a tough decision for them to work through.

But no one was a ranger forever and life worked in strange ways that no one was ever able to foresee. For a while Avalon didn't celebrate her birthday, just because she wasn't sure if she would live long enough to make it to her next birthday. Being a ranger made it harder as no one knew if a monster was going to be too strong for them with enough power to blast through the power of the morphing grid to kill any of them. They had seen what happened to a human but to a ranger…that had to be one strong monster.

Avalon looked down at the papers once more and pushed away from the coffee table, quickly going to get her shoes. She couldn't look at them anymore. She was starting to get stir crazy, being in the house, being in the middle of nowhere, not having so many people to talk to. It was strange to have Zack around again when he had been gone for so long, especially to know that he had been in jail for an amount of time. He could tell her all he wanted that she wasn't to blame but it would take a while before she would actually believe that.

Leaving the house, Avalon grabbed her bike and swung her leg over, settling into the seat and peddled out towards the city. With her long hair streaming behind her she continued along the sidewalk of the nearby shops, glancing at every sign that passed by. She came to a stop in front of a gym, glancing at a flier in the window when she heard her name called.

Not her exact name.

But something she hadn't been called in a long time.

"Pinky."

Avalon turned around and her eyes widened when she spotted Chase standing in front of her. For a moment she wasn't sure if it really was him; his eyes looked kinder than ever before not to mention his head was completely shaved. But her eyes moved to his neck and she found a large snake tattooed there and knew it was indeed him.

Her shoulders slumped seconds before her body steeled in her natural fight response. _You've got to be kidding me._

* * *

 **A/N:** I haven't shown Tommy's and Bailey's relationship in a _long_ time and am glad I was able to show it again here. Now that Chase is back what do you think he wants? Is he there to start trouble for Av again or does he have nicer intentions?

Thanks to _adela, lizziestrong, ObsessedwReading, Son of Whitebeard, brankel1, Ashley, and Guest_ for reviewing the last chapter.

Review Reply

 _Guest:_ Thank you for reviewing and thank you for your question. It's funny that you asked whether or not I would add any lgbtq characters to my stories because Avalon and Bailey are both bisexual. Avalon, I actually had a few people correctly guess, had feelings for Kim (in the stories _All to Blame, Made of Glass, and These Walls_ ), but she never said anything about it. (Not to mention how her former gang mate Summer acts towards her) Though her actions towards Kim as well as to Jason and Billy would point towards it, I just never felt the need to outright state it. Bailey, on the other hand, I haven't had the chance to show it yet, mostly because when she first arrives she's really young so I wasn't sure when to bring it up. So, I could have made it a surprise, but because I was asked, I decided to clarify it. Am I going to make any canon rangers lgbtq…I'm not sure. And I don't mean it in a way that I _won't_ ever write it or that I'm homophobic in any way, but that I'm unsure how I would write it and keep it as much to their character as their canon characteristics are as it would mean they interact with their friends/others differently. This is why I decided against making Billy gay as his actor is though I have enjoyed many stories that do that.

Thank you for your question.

 **~Avalon**


	7. Chapter 7: Red Ranger Dilemma

**Chapter 07**

 _Red Ranger Dilemma  
_

* * *

"Conner, get up! You're going to be late!"

Conner groaned and buried deeper into his blankets. Maybe if he continued to act like he couldn't hear anything, he could skip school. Faking sick certainly wasn't going to work, but maybe, just maybe…

"Conner!"

The teenage jock groaned and curled up in a ball as his blankets were roughly yanked off of him. He rubbed his eyes, twisting around to face his step-father who glared back at him. Of course he managed to do something else that ticked him off. There didn't seem to be anything Conner could do without angering him. Not even playing a great game of soccer would make him smile; he would get the comment that he had to work harder and better. It was no surprise he took school so seriously as well.

"I'm not going to tell you again," Michael McKnight snapped. "You have to go to school! I'm not going to let you mess up your education just because you're feeling lazy!"

"Okay, okay, I'm up." Conner rolled out of bed and shuffled to the bathroom with Michael following along behind him. _Why don't you bother Eric for a change?_ He thought, realizing his twin brother's bedroom door was still closed. He had to still be asleep. He wasn't doing much since he came back from the Wind Ninja Academy. He didn't even feel like going to school, opting to take a job instead. It was just as well, Eric was a bit of an airhead. "I'm up. I'm going."

"Good. Your mother already has breakfast out on the table and you don't want it to go to waste," Michael continued. He sniffed loudly, crossing his arms as he watched Conner brush his teeth. Thankfully, the red ranger made sure to keep his head down while he brushed or else the rolling of his eyes would have been resulted in an even longer and louder lecture. "And you're going to go find the coach of that soccer team and have a conversation with him, yes?"

"Yeah, I'll find him," Conner said. That was something he really did want to do. There had to be some way he could get another chance to try out for the Reefside Wave. He wasn't going to allow being a Power Ranger to get in the way of that. He could find a way to do both even if it meant he had to go into a battle a bit later than the others. _They can handle themselves. They have powers too;_ he reassured himself, determination causing him to set his jaw. _Nothing's going to get in the way of my dream._

"Good." Michael nodded. "Don't take 'no' for an answer."

"Got it."

Conner spat the mouthful of foam into the sink, rinsed it out, and went back to his room so that he could get ready in peace, only able to relax when he heard Michael's footsteps head down the stairs once more. The guy wasn't imposing in any way, but he really did like to get on Conner's case. Changing out of his pajamas into a red t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and his leather jacket, Conner grabbed his backpack and headed downstairs. He dropped his bag into his chair and dropped down into his seat as his mother placed a breakfast plate in front of him.

"Is everything alright, honey?" She asked, smoothing his hair back from his eyes. "You're getting a late start."

"He's fine," Michael grunted. He sat at the head of the table, reading the newspaper. "He was just figuring out what he was going to say to the soccer coach when he seems him later today."

Conner nodded and his mother made a 'tsk' sound, continuing to bustle around the kitchen. Conner lowered his head and tucked down into his breakfast, eating as quickly as he could. The faster he could get out of the house, the faster he could get away from Michael's constant berating comments. As he ate, the silver bracelet that turned into his morpher continued to slide up and down his wrist, the red gem constantly flashing amongst the fluorescent lighting of the house. Each time it flashed it reminded him of what was pressing into his life.

He was tired of it already. Conner shook his head and pushed his half eaten plate away. "I'm going to be late, I have to go." He grabbed his backpack from the back of his chair and hurried from the kitchen. "Tell Eric I said 'bye'," he called sarcastically as he went. He didn't have anything against his brother; he just hated how he was treated differently than him.

"Hey, Conner."

Conner slowed as he walked down the front steps of the porch, finding the same African-American man in front of him that he had seen at the soccer practice. This time he was wearing a white t-shirt under a black vest and black jeans, showing off the tattoos that arched up his arms, disappearing below the sleeves of his shirt. Eyeing him warily, Conner clenched his hands into fists.

 _Is this someone I can trust?_ He asked, waiting for the man to say something or attack. _Or is he working with Mesogog?_

"I'm Zack. I'm a friend of Dr. Oliver's," the man said. Conner noticed the light chuckle that escaped the man's lips when he referred to his friend. Conner didn't understand what was so funny. But still, a wave of relief rushed through the red ranger. So there was no danger. But he wasn't still 100% certain of the guy. How did he know where he lived? Zack seemed to be able to read Conner's thoughts for he held up his hands.

"I can make a phone call to prove it if you'd like," he insisted. "But I am a friend of Dr. Oliver's. He gave me your address after looking through the student directory of Reefside High."

"What do you want?" Conner walked down the steps to reach the man. "Why do you want to talk to me so badly?"

"Because I understand what you're going through, having to decide between two different things that are both really important to you." Zack's eyes narrowed for a moment before a jovial grin stretched across his face. The man was supposed to be smiling, Conner realized. His extroverted personality attested to that, being serious wasn't his personality. "Look you can't be any later for school that you're already cutting close; I don't think speaking to me for a few moments is a big deal. But if you really don't want to talk, man, I can leave."

Conner lifted a hand then slapped it to his side. "What did you say your name was again?"

"Zack."

"Right. Zack. What is it?"

* * *

By the time Conner made it to school his head was in a whirlwind. Zack had spoken to him about the time he had to choose between doing something he loved—dancing, and someone he loved—his father. His father had wanted him to take up football so that he could get a scholarship and move on in the world, where he felt that dancing wasn't going to do that. He wanted Zack to completely give up dancing but Zack refused to do so. Instead, he decided to do both and continued to practice dance as well as go on to play football with his some of his best friends. It was difficult, as he said, to manage them both but he decided to do so because he loved his Dad as much as he loved dancing.

Conner could understand how that would apply to his situation. He loved soccer and vowed it was what he would do for the rest of his life; he would become a professional and make a living off it. So when he arrived at school he immediately went to the office phone and called up the soccer coach, after looking up his information from the phone book. He explained what was going on with the coach and asked for a second chance; however the coach swiftly shot him down saying if it were important he would have stayed.

Crushed, Conner went to class with his head held down and a slightly foggy feeling to his head. What was he going to do now?"

"Dude, are you okay?" Ethan's voice broke him out of his thoughts as he approached Dr. O's class. "You look like someone just kicked your dog or something."

"Or something," Conner murmured. He looked over as Kira and Bailey approached the group, looking back and forth between the two in curiosity. "I called the soccer coach to see if I could get a second chance for the practice and he shot me down. I don't get it, dude, I was the best one on the field out there! They can't get anyone better than me!" He shook his head, fringe falling down into his eyes. "This being a ranger thing is really starting to become a drag." He had only been a ranger for a few weeks, a few days short of a month, and he was already starting to feel—and detest—the pressure.

Especially being the red ranger. Tommy had told him in no uncertain terms he held a lot of responsibility as being the red ranger. He was the leader of the team and had to act like one.

 _Why can't I just act like myself?_ Conner thought. "I need to talk to Dr. O," he said. "Get him to sort out this mess."

"Keep your voice down, do you want everyone to overhear you and send you off to the loony bin?" Bailey insisted. She frowned at him. "And this isn't a mess, the Dino Gem chose you for a reason. You have to honor that reason, it's your destiny. It bonded to you and you can't give it to anyone else."

"And how is it that only you, Dr. Oliver, and Avalon know so much about this?' Conner demanded, turning his attention to her. Beside him, he Kira and Ethan exchanged a glance. They had wondered the same thing. "How come you're always keeping us in the dark about things?"

Bailey hesitated before shrugging. "I'd tell you if I could. All I can say is that the power chose _you_ to be the red ranger for a reason." She reached out, poking him hard enough in the chest so that Conner took a step back. "All three of you. It's common to have feelings of inadequacy or believe that you're an individual marked by the inability to internalize your accomplishments and persistent fear of being exposed as a fraud. But these powers don't make mistakes. You're not a fraud and you're going to do good things."

Conner blinked rapidly, trying to work out what it was she had just said. He wasn't stupid by any means but having so many big words thrown at him at one time with little context clues to figure it out made his head hurt sometimes.

"But how can we know for sure?" Kira pointed out after a moment of confused silence from the teens. "I mean, we've only had these powers for a month and we don't seem to be making much progress in fending off these guys whenever they pop up."

"Yeah, it's like we're a level 20 wizard that just suddenly ran into a level 60 troll in a boss zone," Ethan added. All eyes turned towards him and he shrugged. "What? Haven't you ever accidentally stumbled across a troll you were too weak to go against?"

"Not all of us are computer nerds, dude," Conner pointed out.

"And not all of us think that kicking a stupid ball around is the best way to spend their free time," Ethan shot back.

Conner's eyes narrowed into a glare and he took a step towards the blue ranger. Kira and Bailey immediately moved in between them, pushing them apart from each other. "Hey, you blokes need to stop arguing."

"Yeah, it's not helping any of us," Kira added. She continued to look back and forth between the red and blue rangers, daring them to say anything. But they continued to glare at each other. "We need to be a team, remember?"

Bailey suddenly dropped her hands from the boys' chest and she turned her attention to just behind Conner. Conner turned around to find Tommy walked their way, briefcase in hand.

Tommy slowed to a stop once noticing all four teenagers staring at him. "What?" he asked. "What's going on?"

"I need to talk to you," Conner said, noticing his voice came out far more urgent than he intended. "It's really important."

Tommy blinked, studying Conner. Finally he nodded, lifting his briefcase. "Okay, we can talk after school. I mean, we all still have our classes we have to go to and in my case teach." Then a wry smile came to his lips. "If anyone asks, we'll tell them that you're serving out the rest of your detention, alright?"

"Fine."

Conner followed Tommy into the classroom and sat down at his desk with Bailey, Kira, and Ethan taking their seats as well. He had just opened up his notebook when a microphone was shoved into his face. Irritated, he glanced up to find Cassidy and Devon standing in front of him, staring at him intently. "What do you want?" He snapped.

"I'm Cassidy Cornell with Reefside news," she introduced herself as she did nearly every time a camera was present. "And we were wondering why it is that you are suddenly very chummy with Kira Ford and Ethan James? I know there's something you three are hiding, you've never spent a day together in your entire lives and now you're grouped around, always whispering."

"It's none of your business, Cassidy," Conner said. He leveled his steely gaze towards her, trying to keep his frustration out of his voice. First he had to deal with the soccer team problem and now he had to deal with the school gossip. She always seemed to have it out for him, acting like she was better than him in every way. "We're just talking."

"Because of the detention you got just for skipping class to play soccer?" She rolled her eyes. "I'm not buying it."

Conner glanced over at Tommy, who was busy writing down instructions on the board to calm down the noisy and boisterous students. Class hadn't started yet and Conner wanted nothing more than peace and quiet. He was about to say something else to her but Bailey beat him to it.

"Trust me when I say there's nothing interesting going on with this lot," She said calmly. "I was in detention with them too and we had to clean the school. No _Breakfast Club_ team-ups going on here mate. But if you want a really _good_ story, I'd stick with why Principal Randall suddenly decided to come to this school rather than staying at the military academy she was clearly at before."

Cassidy opened her mouth to answer but Tommy cut her off with, "Cassidy, Devon, take your seats please." Cassidy huffed and lowered her microphone to her purse. She grabbed Devon's shoulder and dragged the poor guy to their seats. "You have to help me next time," she hissed as they went. "I can't do all of the work!"

"Okay, okay," Devon replied.

Bailey glanced at the two over her shoulder before turning her attention to her brother as he started class. "Geez, has she always been like that?"

"Unfortunately," Conner mumbled. "She thinks the entire world exists just for her to have a story to report."

"Well, she may come sniffing around you more often if you don't learn to control yourself."

"I didn't say anything about being a ranger, Bailey. You don't need to lecture me."

"I'm talking about your hand."

Conner lowered his head and found his hand was rapidly shaking once more, the same way it had when he first realized the effects of the Dino Gem on him. With a sigh, Conner pulled his hand back to his lap. Couldn't anything go his way?

Once the school day ended, Tommy had kept his word and waited in his classroom for Conner to speak with him. Bailey was there as well and the three got into his jeep to drive back to his house. "So what's going on, Conner?" Tommy asked once he was sure Bailey had her complete attention on her homework. How she always managed to be so far ahead in her studies and not get bored of it, he wasn't sure. But it was an admirable quality to have, especially with her patience as the jeep bounced over the rocky ground. "You seemed really out of it today."

"You have to find someone to replace me," Conner blurted out. Tommy briefly took his attention off the road to give the red ranger a questioning glance. "I'm a soccer player. That's all I've ever wanted to do. Every moment of my life has been for that. And then I get the greatest chance of my life, ever, and this ranger stuff gets in the way. I blew the best try out ever."

"I know how you feel," Tommy said. "I've felt that way before. My martial arts practices were something that I took _very_ seriously. I competed at top levels and practiced it all the time. I was even working to be a racecar driver at one point. But there was something equally important that I had to do and I had to make the tough decision to stick with it."

"But how did you make the decision?" Conner asked.

Tommy was silent for a long moment. "Because I thought about me and what I wanted to do. The sort of things I wanted to be able to look back on and be proud of. Yes, there were outside influences but those people don't matter. I made the decision that was right for me. I've watched a lot my friends make those decisions too and they've ended up happy."

Conner twisted his mouth to the side, taking in what Tommy was saying. For a moment he was stuck on the racecar driver thing, but then his mind shifted to soccer. How could he give up something that was everything he wanted in life and more for something he wasn't sure how long it would last? Maybe forever?

"Did my friend Zack talk to you today?" Tommy asked.

"Ah, yeah, dude," Conner said, briefly forgetting Tommy hated to be called that. "He talked about how he wanted to dance but his father wanted him to play football. He ended up doing both. I don't really see what that has to do with anything."

"Well, Zack took a step back and thought about what made him happy. Dancing and his family made him happy. So he found a way to make both things work." Tommy sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly as he pulled up into the driveway. "I mean, I can't say his life went _completely_ as he thought it would, but he's happy and that's all that matters."

"Yeah…"

The three climbed out of the jeep and headed into the house. Conner followed the Olives into the lab in the basement to find Avalon pacing back and forth in a tight line. Once she spotted her siblings and Conner she stopped, placing her hands on her hips. Conner tilted his head to the side, noticing the tattoos on the insides of her wrists for the first time.

"It's about time you got here," she said and waved her hand to the side. "Look."

Conner, for a moment, was confused as to what he was supposed to be looking at. Then he noticed the colorful eggs were rapidly shaking back and forth. Before he could react to it, the eggs burst open in bright blasts of light, red, blue, and yellow mechanical raptors standing in front of them.

"Whoa!" Bailey jerked backwards and fell into a fighting stance as the yellow raptor snapped its jaws towards her. "And you want them to ride these things?"

"Only if we can tame them first," Avalon reminded her sister. She jumped and did a spin-kick towards the blue raptor as it came near her. It recoiled before roaring at her, causing her to take a step back. "Okay, they don't like that, that much."

"You really need to work on your impulsive nature, Av," Tommy commented. The last word escaped his lips seconds before the red raptor spun around on its heel and lashed its tail out at the group. While it missed, the rush of air that followed it knocked them all off their feet and into the air, where they landed hard on the dirt ground.

Conner coughed, waving dust from his face. That was the last time he was going to deal with that. He looked over at Tommy, who rolled onto his side and looked back at him. "I want you to think about things before you make your decision," he said.

"I already know my decision." Conner shook his head. "I'm different. I can't handle this. I need to be able to play soccer. I'm sorry." He got to his feet, dusting off his jeans. "But I'm out."

* * *

With a grunt, Conner shot his soccer ball into the empty net. He smiled in satisfaction as it bent and curved to the corner of the goal with little effort. Placing his hands on his hips, Conner walked towards the goal to receive all of the balls he had used for shot practice. He picked one up in his hand and spun it around a few times. As he turned around he stopped, noticing the soccer coach standing behind him.

"McKnight," the man greeted him.

"Coach Schattgan," Conner said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I'm a bit surprised to be here myself," Coach Schattgan replied. He cleared his throat, clasping his hands together in front of him. "I wasn't going to do anything about you until I got a phone call from your teacher. He apologized for making you leave practice last time."

Conner nodded. _Don't say anything, just nod,_ he thought. _You don't want to say something that'll ruin this._

"You were one of the greatest players I've seen in a long while so I was surprised to see there was something more important that would steal you away. Something more important than family as it were. I understand how life can be."

A wince shuddered through Conner's body as he thought about Michael. He was probably still waiting for the news of his chance at soccer even more now.

"But I also have to remember that you're a student, not a professional and that skewed my decision for a bit." Coach Schattgan took a step towards Conner. "But I need to know you're willing to make sacrifices when you need to. This is going to be something that'll take up a lot of your time. But I'm sure it's going to take you far."

"Does this mean I have a chance?" Conner held his breath as he waited for the man's response.

Coach Schattgan chuckled, finally smiling throughout their conversation. "You've always had the chance, McKnight. As a matter of fact, I think I would always regret it if I let someone as good as you, go." He reached out a hand and patted Conner on the shoulder. "I know you're going to work hard. First game is this weekend. If you practice hard enough, show me that you truly do this want this, I'll let you start."

"Oh. Wow." Conner's eyes widened. He reached out and grabbed onto Coach Schattgan hands, shaking it firmly. "Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for giving me another chance, for this opportunity. I won't let you down, I promise."

"See that you don't. I'll see you tomorrow, son."

"Yeah." Conner punched the air with his fist before doing a bit of a victory dance. He did it. He made the best decision he knew he had to and it worked out for him. _Well, Dr. Oliver did help, too. I guess I should thank him for making that phone call._

Then his thoughts shifted to Ethan and Kira. What were they going to do without his help? Bailey did say the Dino Gem only bonded to him. Could they find someone else that the Gem could bond to as well?

Before he could think of it any further, Conner heard the sound of morpher going off and he brought it up to his wrist. "What's going on?" He asked.

"We've got a problem. There's a monster attacking the city. We need your help," Tommy said.

 _This'll be the last time you do this,_ Conner thought. _Better make it count._ He brought up his bracelet and it turned into his morpher. "Dino Thunder, Power up! Ha!" He morphed and teleported down to the area of the city that was being attacked, Kira and Ethan popping up at his side seconds later, morphed as well. They watched as Tyrannodrones darted back and forth, flipping patio tables of nearby restaurants and chased civilians away.

Then they came face to face with a monster that looked like it had a Venus fly trap around its neck. The three quickly got to work, jumping in on the fight. The three held their own, fighting as hard as they could, before they were quickly overpowered. The monster knocked Conner and Ethan backwards before turning its attention on Kira.

Conner reached into his holster and pulled out a gun. "Aba Laser!" He and Ethan called at the same time, firing them towards the monster.

It turned around, closing the leaves around its neck over its face, knocking the blasts back into their chests. Conner cried out in pain, watching as sparks blew from the front of his suit and he crashed to the ground. "What was that?" He gasped.

"That was damage to the Morphing Grid," Bailey explained, her voice coming through their communication link back at Tommy's lab. "When you get hit by a monster, part of your energy connected to the morphing grid is damaged as well."

"So what can we do take down this thing?" Ethan gasped.

"The monster protects itself by moving the leaves over its face," Avalon explained. "You lot need to attack when the leaves are done."

"You got it," Kira said. She, Conner, and Ethan immediately got back to their feet and held out their arsenal once more. "Aba Lasers!" They cried once more, firing the gun. The energy shot out and crashed into the face of the monster, knocking it off its feet. "Yeah!"

"Don't celebrate just yet, rangers," the monster said, getting to its feet. "I'm not through with you yet." With that, it turned on its heel, making a getaway at such high speeds Conner knew he couldn't keep up, even with his added ability.

"It's getting away!" Ethan cried.

"What do we do now?" Conner added.

"Meet you raptor riders!" Tommy said. There was a sudden screech behind the rangers and Conner watched as the mechanical raptors he had seen at the lab before raced towards them. The rangers immediately grabbed the reins of the raptors as they flew by and swung up into the saddle. They chased after the monster until they cornered it in an alleyway.

"Ptera Grips!" Kira cried. She nudged her Raptor Rider forward and struck the monster with her short ranged arsenal as she shot by.

"Tyranno Staff!" Conner was right behind her, summoning her staff and slashing it with the tip of the weapon.

"Tricera Shield!" Bolts of energy shot out of Ethan's shield and crashed into the monster as well, the excess energy knocking the monster to the ground.

"Alright guys," Tommy said. "Now it's time to put your weapons together."

"Right!" Conner swung himself off his raptor and waited for his friends. They put the Tyranno Staff, Tricera Shield, and Ptera Grips together to form the large canon. "Z-Rex Blaster!" The three cried in unison. "Fire!" A brilliant burst of colorful energy show out the mouth of the weapon and shot into the monster. The monster fell apart and before the rangers could celebrate their victory, the sky darkened with ominous black clouds.

Rain fell down from the clouds and fell over the monster, bringing it back together as it increased in size. Conner shook his head as he watched the monster grow. He should've known it wasn't that easy. Elsa and Zeltrax hadn't made an appearance so it had to be something else up Mesogog's sleeves for them.

"Summoning Dino Zords," Avalon said. "There's no way you can take those guys down at your size."

"They can try, but it wouldn't end well," Bailey said.

"You can do it guys, just work together," Tommy reassured them.

"Right!" The three rangers leapt up into their approaching Zords. "Thundersaurus Megazord!" They cried once it all came together. Conner immediately took over the controls and started to slash at the monster, but it closed the leaves up over the end of the zord's arm. "Let go, you creep!" Conner declared.

"You can't do this on your own, Conner," Kira reminded her. "And neither can we. Pterarang!" Kira maneuvered the Thundersaurus Megazord to throw the ptera portion of the zord around like a boomerang. The wings of the zord crashed into the monster, taking bits and pieces of it down.

"Now it's my turn," Ethan declared. "Tricera Spikes!"

The triangles situated upon the Tricera zord pricked up in spikes and shot towards the monster, piercing its body rapidly. It writhed back and forth, screaming in pain.

"Now it's time to finish this," Conner declared. "Tyranno Drill!" He slammed his hand down on the control panel in front of him and the Thundersaurs Megazord shot forward. Its arm pulled back and the Tyranno drill spun around and around, increasing its speed by the second. "Hiya!" Conner brought the arm down and stuck the tip of the Tyranno Drill into the center of the monster. It screamed as its skin and guts were twisted around and around before the surge of energy became too great and he exploded before the ranger's eyes.

"Yeah!" The Rangers cried in unison.

"Great job, guys," Tommy said to the rangers. "Another job well done."

Conner took a step back, allowing the auto-pilot of the Zords to take over, going back to where they came from and so that the rangers could get back to Dr. O's lab. He crossed his arms, a million thoughts running through his head. They worked great together when fighting against the monsters and he knew if they all worked together, nothing could stop them. So why would he give all of that up, something he knew he was good at and had no questions of his abilities, for something that he loved…but also made him unhappy? The constant pressure from Michael and the coach and everyone that watched him made him sick sometimes, but…he loved it so much.

A hand landed on his shoulder and he found Kira at his side, helmet off and wavy brown hair spilling around her face. "Is everything okay?" She asked him, wide eyes blinking up at him.

"Yeah," Conner replied. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just thinking."

"Don't hurt yourself," Ethan teased, taking off his helmet as well. Conner sighed, pulling off his helmet and shaking out his hair. "Dr. O told us this was your last time fighting with us," he said. "We're gonna miss having you around, man."

"Yeah, but if it's what you want, we understand," Kira agreed.

Conner shook his head. "I know I had to make a choice. I chose soccer, and I'm excited but…this is important, too. Both of them are important to me." He smiled back between Kira and Ethan. "I can make it work. I can do both." He nodded. "That's my decision." He expected Kira and Ethan to make a big deal about it, but the two just smiled at each other. "Okay, what?"

"We kind of had a feeling you'd choose to stay," Ethan said.

"Yeah, the look on your face when you first got your powers…it's the same one you have when you're talking about soccer," Kira added. She shrugged. "There was no choice to make."

"Yeah…" Then Conner zeroed in on what Kira had just said. He smiled. "So you've been watching me, huh?" Kira's jaw dropped open. "Don't be embarrassed about it. Babes are always looking at me." He laughed, backing away when Kira shoved him hard on the shoulder.

"What'd I tell you about calling me 'babe?'?" She demanded. With a flip of her hair over her shoulders, she walked to the opening of the Megazord as it docked, ready to leave.

Conner and Ethan exchanged looks, shrugging. They followed her to the opening and powered down to their casual clothes and went back into Tommy's lab where he, Avalon, and Bailey were waiting for them. "Not bad this time," Avalon said as she clapped. She crossed her legs at the knee. "But it's only just the beginning. There's going to be plenty more fights were that came from."

"I had a feeling," Conner sighed. He looked at his feet then back up at Tommy once more. "I need to thank you for making that phone call. If it weren't for you, I might not be able to join the team."

Tommy nodded. "So you figured out what's important to you," he said.

"I did. Soccer and being a ranger are important to me. I can do both. I know things will be difficult sometimes, but I can do it," Conner said with determination.

"We know you can, too," Bailey agreed. "Being a ranger means having to make decisions like this all the time. The responsibility is great, but the reward is even better. Now what we have to do is figure out how to keep you lot from exhibiting your powers in public, yeah?"

"We can worry about that another time," Tommy said. He stood up, looking back and forth from each ranger. "You all did a great job today. You deserve some rest."

"Okay, but what about explaining all of this?" Ethan asked. He motioned to the lab around them. "The lab, the Raptor Riders, power rangers in general."

"Yeah, we know there's something you're not telling us," Kira agreed. "So spill it. What's the big secret?"

The three siblings shared looks with each other before Tommy let out a sigh and shook his head. "We'll tell you soon," he said. "Promise. But for right now, there are more important things for you to do."

"Right, homework," Ethan mumbled. Conner chuckled. The reality of having to go back and do homework was pretty unappealing. But maybe he could find a way to use his newfound abilities of speed to make it go by faster?

"No." Avalon chuckled. "Conner has soccer practice. You don't want to be late do you, mate?"

"Oh! Right!" Conner headed towards the door to the lab. "I've got to go! I'll see you later!" Once he was clear of the rock slab that kept the lab hidden Conner grinned. He glanced at his feet, at the rock slab, then at the tunnel before him. Closing his eyes, he tapped into his powers and felt the familiar tingling feeling of a rush of speed go through his body.

Before he knew it, he arrived at the soccer field with the rest of his teammates.

* * *

 **A/N:** I didn't forget about this story, guys. Just so you know I'm going to focus on _These Walls_ a bit more as I can feel the motivation in my gut to get that story finished. I can see the horizon. Lol.

But seriously, I'm not giving up on this one like I've kinda/sorta/accidentally did with _In Too Deep_ (which I'm still figuring out what to do with that). There's plenty I need to work on with this story, mostly with the characterization for Conner, Ethan, and Kira, showing their backgrounds and all that. I hope you guys are still enjoying the story.

 **~Avalon**


	8. Chapter 8: Legacy of Power (1)

**Chapter 08**

 _Legacy of Power (1)_

* * *

"So you're sure now's the best time to tell them about us?"

Tommy flipped down his newspaper and nodded, turning to Zack, who saw on the kitchens tool beside him. He sure was making himself at home, eating out of the only black cereal bow in the house otherwise filled with red, white, orange, and purple. But then again, he was doing him a favor by letting him couch surf for a while. Even with Tommy's own connections it wasn't easy to get an ex-jailor back into the community. And it was good to have him around.

Not great for the peace and quiet he thought he would've had (though Avalon and Bailey managed to blow that out of the water) but good.

"Do you think it's a bad idea?" Tommy asked Zack in reply.

Zack shrugged, focusing on taking another bite of cereal before dabbing at his mouth with a napkin. He then dropped his hands to his knees, absentmindedly rubbing them before responding. "I'm not saying its' a bad idea, I'm just questioning if right now is the right time? We've managed to hold this secret for a long time—"

"Except for Av," Bailey pointed out, causing Avalon to roll her eyes.

"Okay, okay." Avalon held up her hands defensively. "I reckon I've managed to reveal our secret to too many people for about as long as we've been rangers. I'm sorry, okay?" She crossed her arms and hunched forward against the counter, sticking her tongue out at Bailey, who stuck hers out in reply. Tommy laughed. Okay, there was something he certainly could admit; having his sisters around did make him feel more relaxed at times. And considering how much work he put into his studies over the past few years, maybe it wasn't a bad thing to relax every now and then.

The first way to do that would be to tell Conner, Kira, and Ethan what was going on. They had been pestering him about it after every fight with the Tyrannodrones, Elsa, and Zeltrax. Not to mention there was only so many times they could instruct them on what to do before and after the monster grew before they figured it out for themselves. And if that were the case they would feel betrayed, their trust broken. A ranger team couldn't work without trust in each other and themselves.

"What do you guys think?" Tommy asked, turning to his sisters.

Avalon was the first to respond with, "Whatever you think is best, bro. I'm behind you 100%, you know that."

And he did. No matter what decision he had made throughout his tenure as being the leader of the power rangers she went along with. There had been times where he could tell by looking at her face she didn't personally agree with him, but she put her unending trust in him and went along with whatever he had to say.

"Did you at least mention to the others that you're going to be telling them?" Bailey asked slowly. "Or at least mention that there's a new team of rangers going on?"

Tommy looked towards the ceiling as he tried to find a good way to answer it. Really, he could've used his old communicator, which sat on his desk without a second thought. But he wasn't sure how many of the other rangers still had theirs or if it were completely still operable within the Morphing Grid. (He needed to speak to Billy about that). And then there was sending out a mass email but he wasn't computer literate as of yet—which Avalon and Bailey loved to point out on a daily basis—and he would probably look at it with intense confusion over anything else. He could create mixtures of DNA and Technology, using some of the greatest minds and super computers the world had to offer…and he couldn't figure out how to get into his own email.

 _Must be that STT coming in again,_ Tommy thought, remembering how his friends had come up with the name. 'Standard Tommy Time' for when he was late or when he continued to forget something. _I figured I'd shaken it years ago._

"I haven't had the time," he finally replied. Which was certainly the truth, not only did he have his lesson plans to work on every day, but he had his classes to teach, grading, teacher conferences, his own studies, daily laboratory work to keep track of Mesogog's movements, and _and_ and _and._ The list went on and on. Most people used being busy as an excuse, for Tommy it was his live. "But I will bring it to their attention to. At the moment I have contacted General Norquist as well as Captain Mitchell about this new team of rangers that we've got going on."

"Who?" Zack broke in.

Tommy sighed for a moment. Right. He forgot how much Zack was going to need to be caught up with everything. "General Norquist works at NASADA," Tommy explained.

"Right, we took a field trip there a few times," Zack agreed.

"And he's very well versed about the power rangers and what it is that we're doing. He watches as much as we do to see what is going on around Earth as well as in space in terms of galactic beings that may pose as a threat to us."

"And our Dad created the Lightspeed Rescue power rangers team," Avalon added. "With our sister Dana." Tommy knew he had been explained up to the point of who Dana was, as it came up in one of the last few conversations he and Trini had before he had to completely cut contact with them. Zack nodded once more.

"Got it."

"So they're the ones that know the most so far," Tommy agreed. He sucked in a deep breath. "Along with my friend Hayley Ziktor." At Bailey's surprised glance he nodded to confirm her suspicions. "Yes, the one you met at Hayley's Cyberspace. We attended MIT together and she helped me develop the Dino Thunder powers after things started to go wrong." He shrugged, starting to smirk. "I may have a degree in paleontology but advanced science like that is still my Achilles heel."

"Oh thank God." Bailey made a show of slapping her hand to her chest, eyes widening innocently. "I was starting to think you were bloody perfect."

Tommy rolled his eyes as Zack, Avalon, and Bailey all started laughing. Okay, so he was good at martial arts, he worked as hard as he could with everything that came his way. If anyone wanted to make fun of him for it, that was fine.

"Ha ha. Anyway, this is happening, and I wanted to be sure that you guys knew what was going on," Tommy said. "And that you can be here if you want but it's not like one of those mandatory team meetings that we used to do."

"Considering how much these guys have asked about it, it's probably a good idea that we're there too," Bailey agreed. She pushed her glasses up her nose, wrinkling it as she did so. "Do you think it would ruin their trust in us, though? I reckon that's a risk we're willing to task. I mean, we've known about rangers for a looooong time and they haven't."

"I'm hoping that because you're their age you'll be able to get a better idea of what they're feeling when Av and I aren't there."

"So you want me to be a mole?"

"Not a mole, an informant," Tommy said. "It's a nicer word and I'm sure you're smart enough to figure out what I mean anyway." This caused the four ex-rangers to start laughing all over again. "Right, well, considering how long I've been working with these guys already I'm sure Ethan is really excited to know what's going on and has driven here like crazy. So they're probably going to be here within the next couple of minutes."

The door bell rang, causing Zack to smile. "Or the next couple of seconds."

"Thank God you haven't gotten over your timing," Avalon said dryly. She pushed herself upright and walked into the living room with Zack and Bailey while Tommy got up to answer the door.

He wiped his hands on the sides of his cargo short before reaching for the door. _Oh great. That's real nice, Tommy. How many times have you gone against some of the biggest monsters and villains you've ever faced without breaking a sweat? And now you're nervous?" _ Tommy opened the door and opened his mouth to say something but was brushed aside by Ethan, who eagerly walked into his house. Conner and Kira looked apologetic as they walked in behind him.

"Lead the way, Dr. O!" Ethan said. He rubbed his hands together in unbridled glee as Tommy closed the door behind him. "I can't wait for you to tell us what it is you've been keeping from us." He paused when Tommy crossed his arms over his chest and looked at him. "I mean, thank you for inviting us over. You have a lovely house."

"Considering how quickly you and Conner managed to find the lab the last time you two broke in, I'm surprised you even got a chance to see the place," Tommy said, causing him and the red ranger to look at each other with grimaces. Kira then turned to the two of them with raised eyebrows, her bangs falling into her eyes as she stared at them incredulously. "But it's nice to see the three of you managed to find the place, that's pretty important." _Especially because we're still working on a way to make sure the teleportation devices for their powers don't short circuit at some point. But I guess that's what Hayley is for._

Conner cleared his throat and got a good look at his teacher. He tilted his head to the side, taking in the cargo shorts and t-shirt his teacher was wearing, much different than the slacks, blazer, tie, and glasses the teacher wore during school. It was then he also noticed the tattoos that lined Tommy's arms and his eyebrows rose. That was something he certainly didn't expect for his straight laced teacher. But then again he also didn't expect him to know much about the power rangers either.

"Come on, we'll be sitting in the living room," Tommy said. He turned on his heel and led the three teens into the living room. He noticed Conner looking over at Zack and then doing a double take when he recognized the man. Tommy watched as Zack smiled that good natured smile he was known for and leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms. His feet moved a mile a minute, to a beat that was only playing in his head. Zack never did manage to sit still; he was always dancing in some way. He waited for the three teens to settle in before speaking. "Well, the first thing I want to tell you guys is that this guy right here." He motioned to Zack. "Is my friend Zack and he's not stalking you."

Conner let out sigh of relief and visibly relaxed into the couch, causing Avalon to laugh.

"Even if he was stalking you, it wasn't like the bloke was going to do anything to you," she pointed out. "He couldn't hurt a fly unless he really wanted to."

"Yeah, man, I'm all about having fun," Zack agreed. "But I also have a tendency to recognize when some people need to talk. I'm sorry I didn't tell you who I was from the very beginning other than being Tommy's friend. But there were some things that I needed to know about you first before I could introduce myself."

"About us?" Kira repeated. She looked suspiciously around at the veteran rangers. "What did you need to know about us?"

"Honestly?" Zack leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. He looked them in the eye. "I had my suspicions that you were power rangers."

Conner, Kira, and Ethan all made the similar expression of surprise; their eyes widened and they shot their gazes over to Tommy, Bailey, and Avalon, who calmly sat in their seats as if someone had just casually mentioned the sun was shining. Finally, Ethan found his voice and he said, "You told him who we are? What we do?"

"Yeah, Dr. O, I thought this was supposed to be one of those Holy Grail kind of secrets," Kira added through gritted teeth, her eyes darting over to Zack, who smiled. "Is he really supposed to know about us?"

"Not that it matters now," Conner pointed out. "You basically just confirmed it to him." Kira glared at him and shoved him on the arm, causing him to look offended in return.

Tommy smiled as he looked over at Avalon. She caught his eye and shook her head, knowing what he was thinking. _At least we didn't have this sort of reaction when Av kept spilling it; she didn't really have a choice at the time._

"Well, maybe I should make things better by introducing myself formally," Zack said. He cleared his throat and stood up. "Hi, my name is Zachary Taylor. But you can call me the 'Zack Man', 'Z', 'Mr. Groove Machine'—"

"Get to the point, Zack!" Bailey said, laughing.

Zack laughed along with her and waved his hands. "Okay, okay. I just wanted to clear the air a little bit. Make sure you young ones are on your toes. Ahem." He cleared his throat once more, clasping his hands together in front of him. "My name is Zack and I'm the original black power ranger."

"I was the original orange power ranger," Avalon added.

"I was the original purple power ranger."

"And I was the original green and white power ranger," Tommy added. "The leader of the power rangers. Just like you are, Conner."

"Well, technically—"Zack started. Tommy looked at him and Zack gave a sheepish smile. "Just saying man. Keep going, its okay."

"Thank you," Tommy replied, turning back to the three teens that were now starting at him with gaping mouths. Finally, Ethan snapped his mouth shut and leapt up off of the couch with a victory screech, complete with punching his fist into the air.

"I knew it!" He cried. "I knew it!" He turned back to Conner and Kira and pointed in their faces. "You thought I was wrong. You thought I was crazy. But I _knew_ something was going on and I _knew_ it!" He did a quick victory dance before noticing all eyes on him. He straightened out his blue polo shirt and sat down on the couch once more. "Sorry, I just want it on the record that I was right…" he beamed. "And that is _so_ cool."

"That's probably the most enthusiastic response we've ever gotten from someone knowing our secret," Bailey said. She held up a finger. "Bonus points we're all not struck by lightning and have our powers taken away."

"Okay," Tommy turned the attention back on himself once more. "So here's where my story… _our_ story starts. Back in Angel Grove."

"Angel Grove?" Kira repeated. She turned to Bailey, who crossed her legs at the knee. "You were talking about it before, when you were mentioning a place called Ernie's Juice Bar. Right?"

"Right," Bailey agreed with a nod.

"Wait a minute." Conner scratched the side of his head, now looking completely confused. "I thought you said you were from Australia."

Bailey slapped her hands over her face while Avalon gave him a funny look. The former orange ranger sat up straight and looked over at Tommy with a smirk. "Are we sure we want him as a red ranger?" She asked. "I'm sure I can find someone else that can take the spot, yeah?" Tommy ignored her and she leaned back in her seat. "It's just a suggestion. But I know there's some reason for him to have been chosen to be a power ranger. There always is."

"Exactly," Tommy agreed. He turned back to the three teenagers and mimicked Zack's stance, leaning forward with his hands clasped together between his knees. "Every time there's a new team of power rangers they same question is always asked. 'Why me?' 'Why am I the one that has taken on the power?'" He gently shook his head, brown eyes serious. "There's _always_ a reason someone has been chosen to be a power ranger. Even if you don't see it at the time."

Conner lowered his gaze as he took in Tommy's words.

"Back in Angel Grove there were five teenagers that were chosen to fight against Rita Repulsa. Zack here was the black ranger of that team, those that had taken on the power of the dinosaurs to become the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers with Zordon and Alpha 5 as their mentor and technical advisor. Zordon…" Tommy swallowed hard. "Zordon was a mystical mage who had been in war with Rita for thousands and thousands of years. He was the one that taught them what it was to be a power ranger. And in many ways, over the years, he became like a father to all of us."

"Yeah, man," Zack agreed. "When you told me he had died…"

"Well, what happened to him?" Kira demanded, picking up on the way they were speaking about him. Something had to have gone on. "He must've been really powerful if he had gone against this Rita chick for so long."

"We'll get there," Tommy promised. "But to understand your present as rangers, you have to understand your past. This will be a bit of a long story, but it's something you need to know. But what I can tell is that with Zordon's guidance, Zack, Trini the yellow ranger, Billy the blue ranger, Kimberly the pink ranger, and Jason the red ranger, the leader, did all they could to fend off Rita's onslaught. They bravely defended Earth, which made Rita create his own ranger. And that was me, the green ranger. But rather than being a ranger for good, I was a ranger for evil."

Conner's head whipped up. "Evil?"

Nodding, Tommy continued. "Her evil magic was too strong for me to beat. She commanded me to destroy the power rangers and I almost did. But my friends never gave up. They helped me destroy what was holding me to Rita's power and I was free. I joined the team, fighting with Jason. But not for long. My green ranger powers were temporary and I had to leave the team. But Zordon and Alpha created a new ranger, a white one, and I took on the powers of the good to fight against evil, taking on the power of the White Tiger."

"But a white tiger isn't a dinosaur," Ethan pointed out.

"Neither is a Mastodon or a Saber-Tooth Tiger," Zack pointed out. "And those were the 'dinosaurs' myself and Trini represented." His eyes narrowed and pointed a finger towards the African-American teen. "Don't be dissing the Mastodon! Those guys rocked!"

"Hey, I didn't mean anything by it."

"Yeah, it's not like every single dinosaur is going to be able to be turned into mystical powers to be distributed amongst everyone that can wield them," Kira pointed out. She then blinked in confusion. "I think. I don't know. I'm still working out how my own powers work let alone knowing there were so many other power ranger teams before us." She shook her head, looked up at her teacher once more. "And that one of them was my teacher and the other my classmate."

Bailey shrugged. "I would've said something sooner but I wasn't allowed to," she explained, apologetically. "It's not like we're not in the same boat. Tommy didn't tell us until after you lot found the Dino Gems that he was working with the power rangers again."

"Imagine my bloody surprise when I was secluded to house cleaning duties and stumbled upon a fucking laboratory in our basement," Avalon added.

Tommy threw his hands into the air. "I apologized for that, already." _You have someone else you need to apologize to._ Tommy leveled his gaze at the rangers in front of him. "And I apologize for having to keep it a secret from you all, too. Had I had known the Dino Gems would choose you guys…I don't know, maybe things would have gone differently."

"But that's something you have to keep in mind," Zack added. "No one else can know who you really are. Not unless they're a ranger, not unless you have no choice but to reveal it to someone else." He rubbed his hands together, locking his lips. Tommy hadn't noticed it before, but now it seemed like a nervous habit of Zack's not being able to hold still. Maybe it had gotten worse with the harsh situations he had gone through.

"Why what would happen?" Conner asked.

"Duh, we'd lose our powers," Ethan pointed out. Kira and Conner turned his way. "What? It happens in all of the comic books and video games. The point of having a secret identity is to keep it for a reason. Don't you guys ever indulge in pop culture?"

"If by dating and girls you mean pop culture?"

"You're so simple minded," Kira pointed out. "There's more to life than dating and girls."

"Right, like acting like a music snob is even better?"

"You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Guys!" Avalon snapped, her eyes flashing. Conner and Kira immediately broke out of their spat at her tone. Tommy sighed. Having been on the receiving end of Avalon's anger many times before he knew how bad it could get. That was one reason that he wanted her to be a mentor for the three new rangers. To keep them focused when he couldn't. Anger and strict rules wasn't the way he operated but the good cop always needed the bad cop at times. "You're bloody different. We get that! But you're gonna have to get over it if you're going to work together. If you don't work together you're going to fail as a team. If you fail as a team you're not putting your own lives in danger, but all of ours and everyone who live in Reefside. Mesogog isn't a joke and you shouldn't treat him like one."

Her voice softened though her glare didn't. "I'm not saying you have to be best friends. But you have to at least try to get along."

"Okay, okay, we get it," Kira said. She held up her hands. "No need for a lecture. I already get that from my parents when my grades aren't that great." She dropped them to her lap, running them over each other. "We don't want Mesogog to take over our city just as much as you don't want him to."

"Am I the only one that's bugging?" Ethan asked, changing the subject. He was the only one that kept a bright smile on his face throughout the conversation. "Am I the only one that's freaking out? Our teacher is the oldest living power ranger!"

"I'm 25, that's not old!" Avalon declared. "And I'm younger than Tommy."

"In teenage years, that's ancient," Conner pointed out.

"Yeah, I did kind of think Lt. Stone was getting a little up there," Avalon agreed. "Then again he had to deal with Bulk and Skull on nearly a daily basis so there's that."

"I'm not the oldest power ranger," Tommy explained patiently. He did his best to keep a grimace from coming to his face. He didn't mean to take offense from Conner's comment but that didn't particularly sit too well with him. Mostly because he had the same kind of thoughts that Conner had when he was younger. "There have been plenty that came long before us. But that's beside the point."

"Wait a minute," Conner interrupted this time. "If you guys are power rangers, why didn't you ever morph to help us out?"

"We _used_ to be power rangers, mate," Bailey explained. "We're retired."

"Actually, I think we're at the point of the story where you guys come in," Tommy said, turning to her.

"Right." Avalon sat up straight. "It's true when we said that we lived in Australia. Though if you want to be specific we're only half-Australian and half-American. But then I'm getting into semantics and I'm digressing." Avalon cleared her throat. "Bay and I moved to Angel Grove but it was three years before we met the other rangers when I transferred to Angel Grove High and Bay transferred to Angel Grove Middle." Tommy looked towards her, raising his eyebrows to silently ask _why aren't you telling them everything? It's important._ And Avalon replied with a slight shake of her head saying _I will when it's time._ "At first I didn't want to join the power rangers because I had a lot of other things on my late. But I was given the powers of the Stegosaurus and joined the team as the Mighty Morphin' Orange Ranger. Together the seven of us fought as long and as hard against Rita and the new threat, Zedd, as long as we could. But that didn't work; instead we got another power ranger to join the team."

She nodded over to Bailey. "She took on the power of the Ankylosaurus and became the Mighty Morphin' Purple Ranger. There were many times we defeated Rita's and Zedd's monsters but there was still a lot of work to be done. Jason, Zack, and Trini gave their powers to our three new members, Rocky, Adam, and Aisha and together we continued to fight to save Angel Grove."

"You gave up your powers?" Kira repeated. "Why?"

"I had a good reason," Zack replied calmly. "We _all_ had good reasons to leave our powers behind."

"We fought as hard as we could but it wasn't enough," Tommy spoke up. "With new monsters coming day by day it was harder to keep up. Then the intergalactic being Ivan Ooze came to town and we realized there was always going to be a tougher monster to face. Because of him, Rito, Goldar, and Scorpina managed to overpower and destroy our zords. And not just our zords, our powers as well because Ivan got into our Command Center and tried to destroy it, nearly murdering Zordon in the process. We had to take the Azurite Healiodore, a powerful gem that had been in our possession for a while, and take it to Phaedos to find the Great power where we gained new weapons, new zords, and new enemies as we received the power of the ninjetti. With the powers of our animal spirits of the ninjetti we were able to get stronger and continue to fight for peace in Angel Grove. Unfortunately things didn't stay so calm. Kimberly left the team as well, turning her powers over to her replacement, Katherine; who then became the pink ranger.

"The next thing we know, Angel Grove was under attack by Rita, Zedd, and Rita's father Master Ville. Within that battle our Command Center was destroyed and we found the Zeo Crystal, which guided us in the next chapter of our lives as power rangers. But as we gained new powers, we lost friends as well. Bailey, Aisha, and Billy could no longer serve as rangers and the team with Aisha taking a spot in a foreign exchange student program to bring Tanya as her replacement. Our old team dwindled down to myself, Avalon, Kat, Tanya, Adam, and Rocky as the new Zeo Rangers. This time around we were facing the Machine Empire. Once they were defeated, it was time to face our next fight against Divatox as she launched an attack on Earth. We were then known as the Turbo rangers. Since then, there have been the Space Rangers, the Lost Galaxy Rangers, the Lightspeed Rescue Rangers, the Time Force Rangers, the Wild Force Rangers, and the Ninja Storm rangers."

"I've heard of them," Conner declared, eyes widening as he snapped his fingers. "My brother Eric said three ninjas from his school became the power rangers there." He shook his head. "At the time I thought he was just making things up, so he could pretend that he wasn't as much of a loser as I thought he was."

"So there have been that many ranger teams before ours?" Kira asked. Her voice sounded light, airy; as she tried to come to grips with everything she had just been told. "If that's the case why are they always coming to attack Earth? Don't you think people would get bored and leave us alone?"

"If only things really worked that way," Bailey mused.

Tommy reached over and ruffled her hair. "But now…with the return of Mesogog…I knew it was time to start up the power of the Dino Gems. If anything happens to us, it's up to you three to protect the planet."

The red ranger's eyes widened as the realization of everything thudded onto his shoulders. "Wow, you really do trust us," Conner said.

"We do," Avalon agreed. "We don't have a choice. Being a power ranger means you have to put the utmost trust in each other. Just like the city is going to do in you."

"It's with that trust you have to take and put in each other to defeat Mesogog," Zack added.

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Ethan questioned.

"You're power rangers," Tommy said. He smiled. "You'll figure it out." He took the moment of silence that washed over the current rangers to take a good look at them. A singer, a computer expert, and a soccer player, all with differing personalities that had to come together to defeat the forces of evil. It was very familiar.

Very comforting.

* * *

 **A/N:** Whew, finally getting to some of the fun parts of the show. Sorry but one of the best things about this show for me when I was a kid was seeing Tommy suit up again. He's not my top favorite ranger and in my opinion he's not the best, but he does have a special place in my childhood feels. I can't wait for you guys to see what I have planned with everyone as the story goes on.

Thanks to _DragonEmperor999, adela, lizziestrong, Son of Whitebeard, Guest, and brankel1_ for reviewing.

 **~Avalon**


	9. Chapter 9: Back to Action (2)

**Chapter 09**

 _Back to Action (2)_

* * *

"I still can't believe you shaved your head," Avalon murmured as she looked at Chase. He shrugged then reached up and ran his hand over his short hair. "The last thing you said you've ever do was shave your head, yeah?"

"Yeah, well, many years in jail can do that to you," Chase explained with a shrug. "You learn to change your mind about a lot of things. Especially when you're forced to." He laughed to himself, turning his attention to the street, watching as a car went by. He barely looked up when the waiter came by with their food. "So did you tell your brother that I'm back in town?" He lifted his burning cigarette and sucked on the tip before blowing the smoke out of the side of his mouth. "That family you've got going on must be a pretty decent life."

Avalon snorted. She leaned back in her seat, giving her food time to cool before digging into it. She knew what Chase was doing. There was a reason he was the leader of the Vipers for some time. His tactics of manipulation were always skillful. She wasn't going to fall for it this time around. As it was, she could tell there was something different about him; something she couldn't quite put her finger on. Maybe because he wasn't so outwardly hostile as he used to be.

Though with Chase it was always a matter of time until he allowed his top to blow and strike down anything and everything that got in his way.

"Things are fine," she said shortly. "What are you doing here in Reefside? Last I heard you were in Angel Grove County Jail."

"I was transferred from there to prison," Chase explained. He took another drag from his cigarette and dabbed it out in the ash tray with a few flicks of his wrist. "I managed to get out for reasons I'm still not entirely sure of but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. As for what I'm doing in Reefside…it's where my parole officer is stationed so I had to come as well."

"Parole officer?" Avalon's eyebrows rose before her eyes darted towards the table. She wished she could look though the table, under the leg of his jeans to see if there was some sort of a tracking device on him. "Is it safe for me to be here with you? Considering I used to be in the Vipers too?"

"You've been clear of everything since you lined up with Lt. Stone," Chase pointed out. He chuckled, shaking his head in awe. "I still don't know how you managed to get a lawyer that helped you out so quickly. God knows the rest of us could've used one."

"True. But I think you're forgetting that I didn't really have a choice but to join you, mate."

"None of us has a choice, Pinky. It was bound to happen sooner or later." He shrugged and stretched out his legs below the table, crossing them at the ankle. Something strange came over his face as his eyebrows furrowed together. "Though I do apologize for bringing you into it. I didn't give you the choice; I saw how desperate you were to help your sister and to continue living in Angel Grove and I exploited that. I knew you weren't the kind of person that would usually do what we were doing but I used it against you. It's good to see that you were able to get out of that, but I shouldn't have brought you into it."

Avalon stared at him for a long moment. _He's lying,_ she decided. _Either he's lying or he's dying or there's something else going on that's causing him to have a change of heart. But he has to be lying._ She ran her hand through her hair and continued to study Chase. He looked the same as he always did; a hard look in his face and eyes, jaw set, slouched down at the edge of his chair.

"What is it, mate?" She asked. "Are you dying? Are you about to go back to jail? Are you lulling me into a false sense of security so I'll be attacked when I least expect it?" The last option wasn't so unfounded. Being a ranger for so long, being _around_ rangers for so long just made her wary of anyone that came her way. Anyone could be a monster in disguise. She had seen that first hand after Sabrina turned out to be Scorpina. Adam surely was stuck in an end pass when he realized he was dating one of their strongest villains.

Chase merely shook his head and continued eating. But his eyes didn't shoot around to let her know he was watching and waiting. As much as the gang life had hardened him, it was the most relaxed she had ever seen him despite what now appeared to be a permanent scowl on his face. Jail had changed him, she could see. There were bags under his eyes that had never been there before, he had more tattoos now than he had going in, and the way he carried himself was different. Like he was desperate…

"You're looking for a place to stay aren't you?" She asked. "You gave your parole officer an address of where you were staying but now you need an actual place to stay, yeah?"

Chase sighed loudly. "No, Pinky. I'm trying to make amends." His eyes shifted. "And there's something I need to warn you about."

Avalon felt her blood run cold. This was it; this was exactly what she had been expecting. Her life had gone too perfectly for a long time and now it was falling apart again. It wasn't as if she couldn't see it coming; her life worked in a series of cycles of a period of good times and bad times to the point she could nearly set her watch to it.

"What is it?" She asked.

Chase opened his mouth to answer then his eyes shifted to the side. He stiffened and sat up straight. "I'll have to tell you later." He got up and tossed a 50 dollar bill on the table, causing Avalon's eyes to widen in surprise then narrow in suspicion. "I'll let you know when I want to meet again."

"And what if I don't show?" Avalon asked, crossing her arms. She wasn't going to make this easy for him. Not anymore. Not when he had already done so much to with the pain and suffering she had dealt with for so long. _Not that I'm completely innocent,_ she reminded herself.

"You'll show," Chase replied.

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out something wrapped up in a tissue paper. He handed it to her before lowering his head and hurried across the street, disappearing around the corner. Avalon held the tissue in her hand, shaking her head as she watched Chase leave. She twisted it around, running her thumb along the shape. _Feels like a knife,_ she thought and started to unwrap it. Before the finally slip of tissue fell away there was searing pain on her arm and her body jerked down towards the right.

Whipping around, Avalon found a Tyrannodrone in front of her. Before she could react it jumped up and kicked her in the chest, causing her to rapidly back-peddle against the force before falling to the ground. She grimaced as she sat up, grabbing her chest as the pain subsided. Her eyes darted around to the Tyrannodrones that encircled her. _The must've come in from the Invisiportals_ she realized. "I'm going to kill Tommy for thinking these were a good idea," She muttered before flipping back to her feet. Avalon immediately spun on her heel and stuck a tyranodrone in the face with a sweeping arc of her foot. Then she flipped backwards and drove her elbow into another tyrannodrone before grabbing the arm that was coming up on her left side.

Shifting her weight, she pulled hard and flipped the tyrannodrone onto the ground. Then her arms were forced behind her back and she was lifted off her feet. Avalon kicked her legs out and struck two Tyrannodrones in the face, knocking them down. Then she wrapped her ankles around the neck of another one and twisted to the side, flipping the herself and the tyrannodrone she had her ankles wrapped around to the ground. The tyrannodrone that held her hands behind her back was twisted and flipped to the ground as well.

Avalon spun back to her feet and gave strong punches to another tyrannodrone that continued to come after her. This one was faster than the others, managing to bob, weave, and duck out of the way of her attacks before striking her in the chest once more. Before she could fall she was hit in the back and stumbled forward into the arms of two Tyrannodrones. She pulled back and forth, struggling to wiggle out of the grasp and there was another stinging pain on her side that brought her to her knees. Then there was a bright flash of green light and Avalon's stomach leapt into her throat. Before she knew it the warm air of Reefside was replaced with a stinging cool air. Avalon lifted her head and looked around the metal room she was being held in; nothing but dark brown and gray metals that created a small cell.

"Well." Avalon whipped around to find Elsa standing on the other side of the cell. Avalon bared her teeth and struggled to get to her, but a Tyrannodrone's large claw slashed across her back and she felt to her knees, trembling. "One down…two to go."

###

Bailey held open the door for Conner, Kira, and Ethan as they trooped out of the house. She smiled a little, taking in their shell-shocked expressions. "I would've told you what was going on but I wasn't allowed to," She admitted. "As it was, I didn't think you lot would have believed me."

'Your sudden interest and understanding of everything that had to do with those Dino Gems and you didn't think we would find that interesting?" Ethan repeated, eyes growing wide. "To know you were one of the original rangers and we're just one of the new teams in a long line of them and you didn't think it was interesting?"

Bailey laughed, holding up her hands. "Okay, I get it," She said. "I should've talked to Tommy and made sure we explained some things a little bit earlier. But still there are many reasons that we had to keep it a secret." She crossed her arms, leaning against the railing that ran around the porch. "Say Cassidy for example. She's doing her best to pry into everyone's business. What if we were talking about thing and she overheard us? With that Devin bloke following her around there would've been proof of it, too."

"She has a point," Kira pointed out. "Cassidy doesn't know the words 'no' or 'stop' at all." She shook her head. "She's always been like that, too. Even when we were kids doing career day she wanted nothing more than to be an investigative journalist."

"I remember," Conner agreed. "She wanted to do an 'interview' with me about wanting to be a famous soccer player and all she did was wrinkle her nose and say I wasn't a real job." He started to smile, rubbing his hands together. "But who's got the last laugh now that I'm part of the Reefside Wave."

Bailey, Ethan, and Kira all exchanged a glance as Conner became lost in his thoughts of future fame and fortune. Shaking her head, Bailey turned back to Ethan and Kira. "That wasn't the only reason we couldn't say anything. If your enemies ever found out who you were, then it'll just make it that much easier for them to attack you."

"Like we haven't been attacked already?" Kira pointed out.

"I mean going in other unorthodox ways to do it," Bailey pointed out. "You all have families, yeah? You all have people you love. Friends you want to keep out of danger any way you can. What if they were attacked…kidnapped…killed…all because they were trying to get to you?"

A somber silence filled the air. Even Conner was broken out of his thoughts by the seriousness of the question. At the moment, the rangers didn't know how good they had it. Having been around the rangers for so long she had seen so many things. She had seen innocent people hurt and killed, she had seen her city broken down and built up over and over again. Angel Grove wasn't as thriving as it used to be; so many people had moved away because of the constant barrage of monsters. Even after their last enemy had been destroyed it as too much for the thriving city.

 _Maybe that's what caused all of us to fall into a false sense of security,_ Bailey thought. _Maybe that's why none of us came back to visit as much. Mr. and Mrs. Oliver wouldn't have…_ she trailed off. It was still too hard to think about. For all of them. Tommy threw himself into his work to avoid it; Avalon was never one to speak much about what she was going through until she felt she couldn't handle it anymore. But Bailey was different; she always needed someone to talk to. That's how she and her sister had survived for so long; Avalon listened while she vented and Bailey was there to listen when Avalon finally needed to talk. But for something like death, that was harder for anyone to deal with, let alone a power ranger.

"And, of course," Bailey commented. "We also weren't sure if you were right to be rangers." She held up a hand as Ethan made a sound of protest. "I don't mean it in an offensive way; and you lot have really proven yourself in the short amount of time that you have been given your powers. But there are always questions when things start. Not just from us but from yourselves, too." She motioned to Conner. "Right now if you were given the beauty chance to have a million dollar a year contract with the best soccer team in the world would you take it?" She then looked at Kira. "If you were promised the most successful music career that would have you living in infamy would you take it?" Then Ethan. "If you were given the best opportunities to advance technology would you take it? Over being a ranger?"

She nodded as Conner, Kira, and Ethan paused to think about it. "Exactly. There are always things that have to be taken into considering when it comes to being a ranger. Especially when you're a ranger in your teens and other things start to take precedence."

"That happened to you." Kira said it more as a statement than a question. Bailey raised an eyebrow, waiting. "When you were starting out as a ranger you wanted to do something else?"

Bailey sucked in a deep breath through her nose, looking away for a second. "I loved being a ranger at first. It was the best thing I could have ever done. It really made me come out of my shell instead of being that nerdy little girl everyone expected me to be." She smiled sadly. "But then I realized I was missing out on a lot of things. You see, all of my friends were my sister's and brother's friends. They were all rangers. I only really had one friend my age at the time, my boyfriend, and he knew about the rangers as well. So everywhere in my life revolved around being a ranger…until I saw there were other people I could be friends with. There were parties I could go to. There were many educational advancements I could go to but wouldn't be able to experience if I were still a ranger.

"Tommy and Av, they had so many other things going on in their lives that helped them get through it. Tommy had his girlfriend, his friends, his martial arts trainings, and his family to take him away from it. Av had her boyfriend, her friends…" Bailey trailed off, her upper lip curling in distaste. "And other things that she was going through that took her mind off it. But I was completely encircled in it." She thought for a moment. "I understand there are things you want to do, but as someone that's been through this before I do have one piece of advice."

"What's that?" Conner asked.

"Do what you want to do. Don't let ranger duties or other people pressure you into it. Your emotions, thoughts, feelings…every blood thing about you is of your own volition. Don't let anything take it away but don't take your responsibilities for granted, ether." Bailey watched the three of them for another long moment before changing the subject. "So, are you guys ready to go to the café? I think Kira has a great performance that's supposed to be going on soon."

Ethan looked at her in stunned silence before laughing incredulously. "I can't believe it! You throw us through that serious conversation and then switch it around on us?" He placed his hands on his hips. "If you fight as well as you speak then I hope I never get into a fight with you."

Bailey beamed. Maybe her job as one of the new mentors was going to be easier than she thought. "I had to do something to make you understand what it truly means to be a ranger. There are many people you're going to be compared to before and after you, but you're a new team. You have your own destinies to full-fill."

"Okay, okay!" Kira held up her hands. "Destiny. We get it. I have a date with destiny for Hayley's Cyberspace. Now let's get going before I get anxious." She turned on her heel and stared to walk back to Conner's car taking long strides as she went.

" _Before_ she gets anxious?" Conner repeated, watching her. He scoffed lightly before turning to Bailey. He nodded towards his car. "Do you want to come with us?"

Bailey looked at him for a minute, feeling her stomach clench. Then she took a step back, shaking her head. "I'll meet you there. I have some other things I need to do first. But thanks." She watched as Conner, Kira, and Ethan climbed into Conner's car and he peeled out of the driveway, heading back into Reefside.

Bailey watched until the car disappeared before turning to go back into the house. She had something she needed to do alright; she had to check the computers to make sure there weren't any Tyrannodrones attacking or any sightings of Zeltrax and Elsa. And she had to wait for Av to get back. If she didn't return soon she would tell Tommy where she had slipped off to right after their meeting had ended.

Turning to go inside, Bailey was suddenly flung to the far end of the porch with a strong hit to her side. She looked up just in time to find Tyrannodrones converging upon her before she was struck on the side of the head and knocked out.

###

Tommy turned to face Zack, who continued to sit at the end of the couch, resting his chin in his hand. There was a haunted look in his eyes. Tommy waited patiently for Zack to speak but knew it would take some time before he found the words to say. Instead, Tommy cleared his throat lightly and leaned forward, resting his arms on his legs.

"What's going on, Zack?" He asked. "This is the quietest I've _ever_ heard you. I mean, you're staying here now and even when you're getting up in the morning it's like you're as quiet as a mouse. What happened to the guy that used to dance around without a care in the world?"

"He grew up," Zack replied, finally dropping his hand from his face. "I've been through a lot, man. And I can't help but think about all of the times there have been monsters fights and evil villains coming up to Angel Grove and I couldn't do anything to help. And then finding out about Zordon…man, it's like everything has gone and changed on me." He sat up, suddenly appearing stricken. "I don't mean that I regret anything I've done. I don't. I just wish I could've been of more help…called back when you all were trying to get in touch with me."

"You weren't always in the right frame of mind," Tommy pointed out.

Zack chuckled. He looked at Tommy for a long moment then shook his head. "I think you were the biggest change of all. You went from this guy who was…I don't know how to explain it. You were the new kid that wave evil, managed to be released from Rita's spell, became part of the team. Filling in that one gap and making us better than we ever have been. Moved on to be the leader of our team…" he started to laugh. "Paid so much attention to Kimberly that I thought we needed to have an intervention at some point."

Tommy smiled and laughed.

"And then it turns out that you were on the fast track to getting some of the highest degrees you can get in education. I expect that from Billy, but from you?" He laughed. "You know I don't mean that in an offensive way, man."

"No, no, I get it," Tommy agreed. "Honestly, I'm surprised too. I thought I really had it made as a racer. But there was something else that caught my attention…and now you see where we are. We're fighting against something that I had a hand in creating and that's something I haven't been able to get over for a long time. I don't think I'll ever get over it until they're all destroyed and Mesogog is defeated."

"Tommy, are you sure this isn't your way to finally prove that you weren't an evil ranger?" Zack asked. "That you're trying to prove that Rita doesn't still have her hold over you?"

Tommy blinked in surprise. He hadn't thought of that in a long time. He hadn't given Rita nor Zedd more than a quick thought in years. He had become so engrossed in his school work and studies—of his own volition and with Anton Mercer that he pushed them out his head. His focus had changed and he paid attention more to what could be done to help keep more evil factions from coming to Earth.

"I haven't thought about it," he admitted. "I try _not_ to think about it. Knowing that Rita was able to control me so easily…knowing I was hurting you guys so badly I became desperate to be more than that. When I became the white ranger I needed to be sure that I could take down the guys that were attacking my city, my home, and my friends. I _had_ t prove I was better. That's why I created these things, before Mesogog managed to get to it. Why I created these new ranger powers. If Rita and Zedd were still around they would be in fear of me rather than constantly trying to take us down."

"Did you really think that was going to work?"

"I really did think so. And I still do. But I still question myself, you know? It's hard to be the one everyone answers to. I keep turning around and thinking I could get Zordon's or Alpha's opinions but then I remember they're gone and it's up to us now. And we have to keep going." Tommy licked his lips. "It's like I always say. Once a ranger, always a ranger. I believe that with all of my heart. But sometimes I need to remind myself of that."

Zack nodded.

"And I think you need to be reminded of that, too."

As soon as the words escaped his lips he heard a commotion on the front porch. A look flashed between Tommy and Zack before the two leapt to their feet and raced out the front door. Tommy flung it open just time to see some Tyrannodrones pull an unconscious Bailey through an Invisiportal.

"Bay!" Tommy cried.

"Head's up!" Zack said a second later. He ducked out of the way of an attack and lowered his shoulder, driving it into the chest of a tyranodrone, knocking it off the porch and onto the ground below. Tommy took a large step back and slammed the door shut just as a tyrannodrone flung itself forward. There were a loud crash and a heavy thud against the door and Tommy opened it once more, watching as a tyrannodrone fell to the ground. Tommy placed his hands on the back of the tyrannodrone and flipped over it, giving a roundhouse kick to another once.

Tommy was hit from behind and fell to the ground. He rolled to the side and stuck out his foot, tripping another tyrannodrone before rolling backwards. He landed on his feet and leapt upwards, shifting away from another attack. Then he landed on the ground and struck a hard punch into another Tyrannodrones face. Before he could recover and attack once more, four of the dinosaur-like creatures leapt atop of him, pinning his arms to his sides.

He struggled to get away, but soon found himself and Zack dragged through an Invisiportals. As Zack was taken to a cell and forcefully thrown inside, Tommy was led over to a reclined examining chair, which resembled a prehistoric looking dentist chair, and was forced down. His head was jerked backwards against the headrest as his arms, legs, and waist was strapped down to the seat. He shook his head back and forth, trying to find his captor, then froze; eyes wide as a lizard like monster walked his way.

 _Mesogog,_ Tommy thought, watching him walk closer.

"Ah, Dr. Oliver," Mesogog said to him. "I was hoping we'd have a chance to talk."

* * *

 **A/N:** I'm now on Spring Break so I was finally able to get this chapter up. Sorry about the long wait, but I hope it was worth it. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I hope you are all still around to let me know what you think of this one as well. _These Walls_ will be updated soon.

 **~Avalon**


	10. Chapter 10: Back in Black (3)

**Chapter 10**

 _Back in Black (3)_

* * *

"Okay, Dr. Oliver is really cutting it close here," Ethan remarked, looking at his watch. He turned his attention back to the stage as Kira and her band really warmed up the crowd gathered around Hayley's Cyberspace. It was some of the best music he had heard in a while and he could see everyone was enjoying it as well. "He said that he, Avalon, and Bailey were going to be here and the show's almost over."

"Maybe he got a better offer," Conner commented, watching as Kira stood at the microphone, expertly playing the guitar at the same time. He couldn't even manage to play soccer and think about what he was going to have for dinner at the same time. "Or maybe he had a lot of work to do. I mean, he's a teacher and teacher's like to grade and do work. Why else would they become a teacher?"

Ethan gave him a 'duh' look. "Um, because they like to encourage and strengthen bright young minds like yours and mine." He paused, eyes narrowing as he looked Conner up and down. "Or maybe just mine." Conner glared at him out of the corner of his eye and Ethan smiled, turning his attention back to the stage. Kira was really working the stage now, getting into her groove, but at the beginning he could see she was a little nervous. Her eyes continued to dart back and forth over the crowd for the first few songs, unable to focus on one person or thing.

Then she got a chance to shake out her nerves with a fast-paced, upbeat song that got the crowd cheering and clapping for her. Every now and then Ethan could see Kira looking over towards the two and her smile widened a little bit, but not so much anyone else noticed. Ethan didn't blame her. There were so many things they had to digest now; knowing their mentors were older rangers they never would have thought of, working on becoming good protectors for their own city, trying to juggle everything that was normal in their lives.

Every day Ethan had found himself winding down with a good video game and while he continued to play when he got the chance, it wasn't nearly as important as helping Dr. O with the Raptor Riders or whatever else was needed for them to defeat Mesogog, Zeltrax, Elsa, and whatever else was thrown his way.

Ethan continued to bob his head to the music, looking at his watch every now and then until Kira finally finished up her set to wide-spread applause. She was beaming as she hurried over to the two once the prerecorded music started to play form the speakers once more. "So?" She asked anxiously. "How was it?"

"You were amazing, Kira," Conner said honestly, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Really great. Some of the best music I've heard in a long time." Kira smiled back at him and then it fell once Conner continued with, "For a girl, anyway." Ethan rolled his eyes as Kira glared at him. "What? What'd I say? Did I say something wrong?"

Kira ignored him, turning back to Ethan, crossing her arms. "Was I really good?" She asked. "I mean, I know there were some problems here and there but—"

"I didn't hear anything," Ethan reassured her. "Trust me, it was great."

"Yeah, and what does computer boy know about music?" Conner asked, lightly shoving him on the arm.

Ethan smirked back at him. "I'll have you know that as a computer nerd I'm well versed in a lot of things, and one of such things is music production. Or at least the music through my video games and if I can tell there's a shift in music in that, then I can tell in live music." He turned back to Kira. "Your music was fine. But, honestly, you looked a little distracted."

"I was," Kira admitted. "I guess. But I thought Dr. Oliver and the others were supposed to be here."

"Wait." Conner sat up straight and twisted around in his seat. "They never showed?"

"Nice of you to finally notice," Ethan remarked. He shook his head before lowering his voice for two people that passed. "No. None of them showed. Do you think something happened to them? I mean it's not like we _knew_ for sure they were going to come."

"Yeah, he hasn't really been honest with us so far," Conner pointed out.

That wasn't entirely true. Dr. Oliver had been really good at being truthful with things he'd told them. And while Ethan was frustrated that he and the others had waited so long to tell them their ranger background he understood it as well. They needed to have all of the facts before they could trust the new rangers with everything they knew. If it were him, he would have put extensive research on everything that would have been of the new rangers himself.

"But to think he would lie to us about this?" Kira insisted. "I don't know guys, I think something's going on."

"I hate to burst your bubbles, but I think you're right," Hayley said, coming up to their side. Ethan held his breath, glancing over at Conner and Kira. They looked back at him with the same deer-in-the-headlights expression. Hayley looked around the café before turning back to the three rangers. "Would you come with me, please? We need to talk about this in private." Without waiting for a response, Hayley led the rangers to the back of the café. Once they were all settled into her office, she made sure it was closed behind them. "I hoped this day wouldn't come," she commented. "Where Tommy was missing and I needed to come in and help you guys." She took a deep breath, looking each ranger in the eye. "If Tommy is missing it's because Mesogog has him. And by my guess, the others too."

"Wait a minute." Ethan held up a hand. "You know about Mesogog?"

"I know about _everything,_ " Hayley corrected him. She nodded towards the silver bracelets on their wrists. "You think Tommy was the one who created those. He's very smart but he's not a rocket scientist."

"So you know everything about Dr. Oliver being a power ranger?" Conner asked, whispering comically. Ethan rolled his eyes. It was obvious by that point she truly _did_ know everything there was to know about rangers. Now he understood why Tommy and the others had been very…hesitant about believing they were truly the right rangers to pick up where the last team had left off.

"Yes, Conner, I know about him, Avalon, Bailey, and Zack being rangers," Hayley said.

Conner's eyes widened. "You know about Zack, too—"

"At this point, Conner, you're just wasting time trying to figure out everything she does know when it's obvious she knows more than we ever did," Kira interrupted, barely concealing her frustration. She turned back to Hayley. "Okay, so where are they? How are we going to get them back?"

"Knowing things like this, they're at Mesogog's lair," Hayley commented. "But the means of being able to find it, that's where we run into some trouble. Look, Tommy trusted me with the knowledge of you guys and the Dino Thunder powers because he knew there was a chance that something could happen. And that something has finally happened. I don't have the equipment to look for them here, but there is back at Tommy's place. So we need to go there now."

Ethan opened his mouth to say something else and was cut off with a knock at the door. The three teens twisted around as Hayley called the person to come in, and watched as a boy about their age, dressed in a white button down shirt and jeans slid into the room. He glanced at the three before turning back to Hayley.

"Hi," he greeted her. "Uh, I'm Trent. I'm the new guy you hired to help out around here."

Hayley blinked for a moment then her face cleared. "Right. Trent. Right. This is Ethan, Conner, and Kira," she introduced the four to each other and they all waved in response, save for Kira who's eyes widened slightly once she caught sight of Trent. "Trent, actually, would you mind getting to work tonight? I know it's last minute but there's a bit of an emergency. Jared, our manager, will be out there helping you with everything and he'll help you close down everything."

"Yes, that's fine," Trent said. He tried not to let excitement show on his face. "I came to ask if there was a time I could start tomorrow, but if you'd let me work tonight, that'd be great. Thanks." He waved to her before nodding and the others, leaving the room.

Ethan let out a sigh of relief he didn't know he had been holding. They had only been rangers for a few weeks now and blowing their secret that quickly would have been ridiculous. But, as usual, Hayley seemed to know what she was doing.

"So how are we going to find Dr. Oliver?" He asked Hayley.

"We'll figure that out once we get to his house," Hayley explained. "Come on, let's go."

###

Tommy struggled against his bindings, staring up at the laser-spear pointed directly above his head. He shifted back and forth, hoping to catch a glimpse of his sister and friend but found he was unable to move more than a few inches. Mesogog walked around him before coming to a stop by his head, placing his face near Tommy's.

Grimacing, Tommy turned his face away from the prehistoric creature. He had seen enough horror movies in his lifetime to not want to be so close to the creature's face. If it was that ugly from far away, he didn't dream of seeing it up close and personal. "Dr. Oliver, I will not be able to hold back the pain of my disappointment if you don't tell me how to free the gem."

Tommy's eyes shifted over to the translucent rock that sat on a nearby table, guarded by Elsa and Zeltrax. Inside it he could see a tiny black gem. It had to be another Dino Gem, it looked just like the ones Kira, Ethan, and Conner had take from his lab when they were exploring while in detention. Of course Mesogog knew he was the only one that knew how they worked. And if Mesogog figured out how to harness that power…

"Are those my only choices?" Tommy shot back, twisting and turning as hard as he could against his restraints. "Or do I have any other options?"

"Your other options are for your friends to suffer your consequences," Mesogog hissed, eyes shifting over to the cells that held Avalon, Bailey, and Zack. "I hadn't intended to bring them along, but just so long as I can keep Dr. Tommy Oliver within my grasp and have something of collateral as well…then that's to my advantage."

Tommy gritted his teeth. He should've seen this coming, really. There was never a point where any ranger was 100% safe. It was why he had decided to take the house in the woods, so no one would visit them and no one would find out their secret. Now that Conner, Kira, and Ethan knew, now that the Power Rangers were back, he should have realized nothing would stop Mesogog in figuring out all of the ways to harness their power. But to take former rangers along with him? That was new. What were the chances any of they would be able to use their powers anyway? They had been destroyed.

"Your feeble attempts of distracting me are as laughable as your idea of self-sacrifice," Mesogog continued. "As if that would entice me." He placed his hands behind his back and started to walk around the examining table once more. "However, I know that's not what you care about the most. What you care about are your precious students. The students that also have the sort of power I'm looking for. However, this can all be avoided if you gave me the answers I was looking for."

With that, Mesogog motioned to Zeltrax, who nodded and brought the large, translucent rock over towards the examining table, placing it between Tommy's feet. Tommy looked down at the massive rock and his eyebrows furrowed together as it started to glow, the same glow reflecting in his eyes. He felt a surge of power flow through his veins.

 _What was that?_ He thought.

But he continued to keep his mouth shut. Letting out a low, disappointed sigh, Mesogog turned towards his other minion. "Elsa," he called and she dutifully stepped forward. "Find those teenagers and bring them to me. I believe they'll come like obedient dogs and fall into our trap. Zeltrax, Elsa! Take them down!"

"Yes, my lord," the two henchmen harmonized before walking out of the room.

Mesogog watched them go before turning back to Tommy. "If you're not going to help me, it looks like I'll have to force you into it." All of a sudden there was a screech of pain from Zack and Tommy felt his body tense with fear and frustration recognizing it as Zack. As far as he could shift his eyes over, Tommy could see Tyrannodrones had been let inside the cells Avalon, Bailey, and Zack were being hold in and the one within Zack's cage had just whipped his back with the long shield-like apparatus attached to his arm.

Then the spear-like hand on the Tyrannodrones in Avalon's and Bailey's cells whacked the girls against their sides, causing them to cry out in pain as well. Tommy's teeth clenched together so hard his jaw started to ache.

If there was one thing Mesogog had against all of the other enemies they have faced before, it was that he knew where to hit where it hurt.

###

"Here's an Invisiportal that I believe will be able to take you straight to Tommy and the others," Hayley said, sitting at a computer and pouring over the keyboard. She alternatively looked up from the keyboard to the computer screen as the screen locked onto Tommy's location. "But you know Mesogog is going to have Zeltrax and Elsa ready and waiting for you when you get there. I understand we don't know _what_ he wants with Tommy, but it can't be anything good."

"Well, if anyone would know it'd be you, Hayley," Ethan said, placing a hand on her shoulder as he watched the screens. He frowned, looking at another computer screen that showed the exact location in latitude and longitude. "That's so far away, though. How are we going to get there?"

"With your new Raptor Cycles," Hayley said with a grin. She pressed button on the keyboard and a wall slid up to reveal three brightly colored motorcycles sitting next to each other. Ethan's eyes widened and he raced over to the blue one, running his hand over the handle bars.

"Whoa, these are so awesome!" He declared. If being a power ranger meant they were able to get cool gadgets like that all the time, then he was good with being a ranger. One look at Kira's and Conner's faces showed they were thinking the same thing. "And this is what's going to get us to Mesogog's lair?"

"Just as long as you move fast enough through the portal so that you don't get ripped to shreds," Hayley called over her shoulder. Ethan immediately grimaced. "I don't think that'll happen but I thought it was something that you three should know before you make a wrong move."

"Thanks for that vote of confidence, Hayley, but I think we can manage," Conner said. He and Ethan exchanged a glance and the red ranger cleared his throat, rolling his shoulders. "Are you guys ready?"

"Ready!" Ethan and Kira responded.

"Dino Thunder, Power up! Ha!"

The rangers morphed and leapt onto their Raptor Cycles and used them to race through the Invisiportal to Tommy's coordinates, on an island. Once climbing off of the Raptor Cycles, ready to go through the Invisiportal Elsa and Zeltrax appeared in front of them with a horde of Tyrannodrones and a new monster at their side. The three started up their cycles once more and charged towards the enemies that raced their way.

"Firing lasers" Conner revved the handlebar on his cycle and the front erupted in bright bolts of lasers that shot through the Tyrannodrones with Kira and Ethan right behind him. Ethan drove his cycle over a patch of water, blinding the Tyrannodrones with the spray before he struck the with blue bolts of lasers as he passed by them.

Finally, Elsa and Zeltrax shot forward and started to attack the rangers, sliding their swords around as they did so. Conner climbed off his bike and went to battle against the both of them, doing a good job of keeping himself away from getting hit by them. With the aid of his bike, he knocked Elsa off balance and slashed her front with his summoned Tyranno Staff. Zeltrax backed away from the red ranger before charging forward once more. Revving his bike again, Conner allowed a spray of mud and dirt to blind Zeltrax and struck him with the Tyranno staff as well.

"Now it's my turn!" Ethan declared. His turned his Raptor Cycle around and charged towards the squid monster that Elsa had brought with her and Zeltrax. Weaving in and out of the blasts the squid monster sent his way; Ethan pulled up his blaster and turned sharply to the side, striking the quid monster with each strong blast sent his way. The squid monster flailed about before falling to the ground from one incredibly strong blast.

Kira took down the rest of the Tyrannodrones that were continuously gathering around the three rangers, dodging the electrical blasts that Zeltrax sent her way at the same time. Conner raced up to her side and leapt from his bike, kicking Zeltrax in the chest, knocking him back to the ground. Once he was out of the way, the rangers turned their bikes back towards the Invisiportals and shot through it, despite the frantic attack Elsa shot t them, trying to keep them away from the island fortress.

The three bikes came to an immediately stop once they were inside.

"Wow, that was _awesome_!" Ethan declared, swinging his leg off of the motorcycle. "Just think of how fast these babies can go when you're at its ultimate top speed."

"Think about it later, Ethan. We're here to save Dr. Oliver and the others, remember?" She reminded him. Ethan nodded and the three started to run along the winding halls of Mesogog's fortress. Their footsteps echoed along the halls as they went. As they turned one last corner they found themselves face to face with Mesogog and slowly started to back away from him.

"So you three are the ones that are constantly getting in my way," Mesogog commented.

"That's right," Conner agreed. "And we're going to stop every other plan you'll come up with."

"We're not going to let you destroy Reefside," Kira added.

If Mesogog were able to laugh, that's what Ethan was sure the monster would have done. Instead, he let out a long wheezing breath, his hands still clasped together behind his back. "If Reefside were what I wanted, I would have destroyed it a long time ago. One city isn't my target in all of this. My plan is much more complex than that." He turned away for a second as a cry of pain echoed towards them. "I'm sure you can understand where I'm coming from."

"No matter what it is you're up to we're going to stop you!" Conner declared. "Right here and now." With that, he, Ethan, and Kira started to run towards Mesogog.

The monster lifted his hands to his head and started to shoot out a mental attack towards them and right as it was about to strike them, Elsa, Zeltrax, and the squid monster appeared in front of them. Their hands immediately went to their heads and they cried out in pain, falling to their knees. Mesogog looked at them in distaste, sending another blast to them for getting in his way. And another for messing up once again.

"Master, stop!" Elsa cried, her eyes clenched tight. "Please!"

 _Whoa, this guy means business,_ Ethan thought, watching the spectacle with wide eyes beneath his helmet. _If he's willing to take down his henchmen like this, then this guys might be more than we could ever imagine._

"Hurry up!" At Kira's cry, Ethan realized the other had left him behind. Ethan nodded and leapt over Zeltrax's fallen body before running after them. He came to a stop when he noticed the three former rangers in their cells. "Hey, are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Avalon replied. Ethan's eyes lowered and he noticed a damp, red spot on the side of her shirt where blood had seeped through. And yet her face didn't give away any of the pain she must have been feeling.

"If that's fine, I don't want to know how 'not fine' is," Ethan remarked.

Bailey managed a mixture between a grin and a grimace, holding tightly onto the bars of her cell. "Hurry up and get us out of here before they come back," She declared. She turned her head to the side and peered at Zack as he sat in the corner of his own cell, arm across his stomach. "I think Zack may be hurt, bad."

"No way." Zack shook his head. "You don't get shanked in prison and live to tell the tale and think that something hurts more than that." He shook his head again. "I'm fine. But we've got to get out of here."

"Alright. Stand back." Conner pulled out his laser form his pocket. "Dino Laser!" Pulling the trigger it shot three bolts out into the padlocks on the cells and they dropped to the floor, doors swinging open. Conner, Kira, and Ethan hurried into the cells, helping the ex-rangers to their feet and pulled them out of the cells. "Alright, now it's time to get to Dr. Oliver."

"It's this way," Avalon said, pointing in the direction. She pressed a hand against her side, pulling away from Ethan's grasp, and hurried down the hallway with the other rangers following her. Zack and Bailey, despite their injuries, kept up as well and Ethan watched them in surprise. They certainly had seen a lot of things before and were doing an amazing job of not letting anyone see their weakness. "Tommy!"

"Hey, over here!" Tommy called back, still stuck within his restraints which Zack and Bailey immediately moved over to free him of. "Boy am I glad to see you guys. I was starting to think the last thing I was going to see was Mesogog's face. I mean, there are a lot of things that I'd hate to see as my last thing-"

"—But that face?" Kira interrupted. "I totally get where you're coming from, Dr. Oliver."

"Yeah, push that button over there," Tommy said, nodding towards a control panel. "It'll seal the room so no one else can get in."

"You got it!" Ethan hurried over and pressed it. True to Tommy's word, the doors slid shut and, to their surprise, the restraints on him came apart as well. Zack helped Tommy to his feet and he immediately got to work.

"I should've known you guys would come to rescue me," he said, looking over the buttons and joysticks that stood in front of him. "If I knew your plan ahead of time, I would've told you to stay back so I could handle it myself."

"Or, you were handling it just fine," Ethan said sarcastically. "Being strapped in the dentist chair from hell with no way out." Tommy shot him a look and Ethan smirked in response, glad his teacher couldn't see directly into his helmet. "So what's the plan on getting out of here? Our Raptor Cycles have been locked out, too."

"I see you ran into Hayley, then," Tommy commented.

"Right, she was the one that helped us figure out how to get here," Conner agreed.

"Well, let's see we can do the same thing to get out, mate," Bailey said. Her eye scanned the control panel. "We'll need to use the Invisiportals network to get out of here and it looks like that's Mesogog's main mean of transportation of the Tyrannodrones. So let's see…" she reached out and a few buttons, turning around as a portal opened. "Beauty, we've got one right in here."

"Yeah, and we better jet before those guys figure out how to bust through walls, too," Zack agreed. He winced as the doors opened once more. "I really need to learn how to keep from jinxing myself. Do you know how many times I did that when we were still rangers?"

"Too many times to count, Twinkle Toes," Avalon replied, causing Zack to smile at the familiar nickname. She and the rest of the group fell into a fight stance as the Tyrannodrones, Elsa, Zeltrax, Mesogog, and the squid monster converged upon them. They fought off the monsters are hard as they could, backing them far enough away before leaping through the Invisiportal.

Ethan landed on the ground in a crouch, turning back around just as Elsa, Zeltrax, the squid monster, and the Tyrannodrones appeared behind them. He turned around just in time to see Zeltrax shoot an electric blast of energy out of his sword towards his teacher.

"Dr. O!" He cried.

"Watch out!" Conner and Kira cried in unison.

Ethan shielded his face at the sudden bright blast and when he turned back, Tommy was nowhere in sight. He exchanged shocked glances with Kira and Conner. _He…he was just right there,_ Ethan thought. _Where'd he go._

"Tommy!" Zack cried.

"No!" Avalon shouted.

Then Ethan blinked in surprise as something shimmered in front of him. He looked away from the shimmer for a moment then back to it, noticing that it was moving in a certain way. Almost like a human walking forward. Then it slowly started to come into focus and Ethan blinked in surprise when Tommy's form filled in and he smirked at the monsters in front of them.

"Did someone say my name?" He called.

"Dr. O, you're okay!" Kira cried.

"Better than okay," Tommy replied. His eyes flashed with a light Ethan hadn't seen in the man before. He looked up at Elsa and Zeltrax, his smirk widening. "I'm just getting started." Ethan, Conner, and Kira hurried up to his side and he opened his hand to show them the Black Dino Gem. "Now let's see what this baby can do. Dino Thunder, Power up! Ha!"

Ethan grinned as Tommy transformed into the Dino Thunder Black Power Ranger. The group, including Avalon, Bailey, and Zack, raced towards the monsters and fought as hard as they could. With another ranger on the team, the fight went a lot easier than it had been before, especially with the squid monster ducking out of the battle halfway through. While Conner fought against Elsa, Tommy focused his attention on Zeltrax with Avalon, Bailey, and Zack taking down the Tyrannodrones that got in their way.

Ethan turned his attention to Tommy and Zeltrax as they continued to fight each other with some of the most impressive skills he had ever seen. For someone who hadn't been a ranger for a long time, he certainly knew what he was doing. Still, even with the Brachio Staff he summoned, Ethan could see that Tommy was having trouble against the monster.

"Let's help our new teammate out," Kira declared, summoning her Ptera Grips.

"You got it," Ethan agreed, summoning his Tricera Shield. Conner summoned his Tyranno Staff and the three put them together. "Z-Rex Blaster!" They cried. "Fire!" The Z-Rex Blaster shot out a strong blast of energy that crashed into Zeltrax, knocking him off his feet and onto the ground.

Zeltrax rolled across the ground and got back to his feet, turning towards Tommy, who gave his students a thumbs up. "I'm not through with you yet, Dr. Oliver."

"I'll be waiting for you return, Zeltrax," Tommy replied. There was a sudden beeping sound on his morpher and he brought it to his mouth, knowing there was only one person it could be. "Hayley?"

"Welcome back, Tommy," Hayley said to him.

"It's good to be back," Tommy agreed. Zeltrax growled and disappeared back into an Invisiportal, taking him to Mesogog's base along with the Tyrannodrones. Tommy turned back to his teammates. "Good job, guys."

"Right back atcha, Dr. O," Kira said.

Ethan smiled within his helmet. But he couldn't help but notice how strange everything had been. If Mesogog was supposed to be a strong villain then why did he let them get away? More importantly, why did he appear so calm about it? Then there was Zeltrax. He seemed to have some sort of a vendetta against Tommy specifically, almost as if he had a personal grudge against him.

 _But that's impossible,_ Ethan thought. _Tommy and Zeltrax have never come face to face before. Neither have Tommy or Mesogog._ Then he realized something else. He didn't know how much of the truth Tommy was telling them about his past as a ranger. Avalon, Zack, and Bailey certainly had his back when telling their stories about how they were rangers. But that when they were all rangers together. How did he know so much about Mesogog if he didn't know Mesogog? _How does he know so much about everything._

And it was then that Ethan became suspicious of his teacher. No matter how good of a ranger Tommy was, it seemed like the man cared more about his privacy than actually helping the rangers, giving them all of the information they needed.

There was something else Tommy wasn't telling them.

And Ethan was going to find out.

###

"Okay, I know you were the original green ranger, and the original white ranger. And I know that Jason didn't seem to mind that you stole his color, but did you need to steal mine, too?"

Tommy grinned as Zack, Avalon, Bailey, Conner, Kira, and Ethan all laughed. He looked around the empty café before relaxing even further. The café was already empty as it was; there was no need to think anyone was listening in on their conversation. Still, he didn't want to risk any of the conversation falling into the wrong hands.

"Hey, it's like I said to these guys, you don't choose the Dino Gems, the Dino Gems choose you." Tommy smiled. "It's not my fault that this one just so happened to be black."

"So am I to expect you to take my color next, mate?" Avalon asked.

"Nah, I reckon he'd look heaps better in purple," Bailey teased.

"Hey, with the power of invisibility coming from the gem, it won't matter what he wears," Zack declared. He took a sip of his smoothie then shook his head. "Man, the power of invisibility. If only you had that power when we were still in high school. Ms. Appleby wouldn't have gotten on your case of being late so many times, you could've walked in without her knowing and pretended you were there the whole time."

"Wait a minute," Conner broke in. He pointed over at his teacher. "Dr. O, you were a bad student?"

"He was a good student," Avalon defended her brother. She then started to count off on her fingers. "When he was on time, when he remembered his homework, when he studied, when he wasn't too busy making out with Kimberly…" She laughed and gave Zack and Bailey a high-five as Tommy immediately made loud sounds in protest.

Kira was the first one to stop laughing. "So you just so happened to have that morpher ready?" she asked.

"Shortly after you guys became rangers I got an energy reading on the tracking system and thought it was another gem." Tommy shrugged. "So I had Hayley build another morpher just in case."

"And, once again, he decides to leave the rest of us in the dark," Bailey pointed out. She made a show of rolling her eyes. "Notice how it's always us two." She pointed between herself and Avalon.

"That's because you guys can't keep a secret," Tommy pointed out. "And besides, I needed us to focus on getting these guys ready as rangers themselves."

"And yet, you couldn't give them enough time on their own before you had to jump in and save the day," Zack taunted him. "You had to go into Tommy mode and swoop in and save the day like you always do."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Tommy placed his hands on his knees and got to his feet. "Anyway, this was great, but I have to get going."

"Already?" Conner asked in protest.

"Yeah, I wanted to ask you some more questions," Ethan added.

Tommy sighed. "Well, I looked through my closet this morning and I noticed there's a serious shortage of black in here. So I need to…" he trailed off, closing his eyes as if pained. Avalon lit up and she straightened, looking at her brother expectantly. "I need to…"

'Come on, say it," Avalon insisted. "Say those beauty words."

A huge sigh escaped Tommy's lips. "I need to go shopping."

"Whoo!" Avalon cheered, punching the air. She leapt to her feet and slid her arm through Tommy's. "I've been dying to hear you say that." She started to drag him out of the café and Tommy suddenly had flashbacks of all of the times Kimberly had forced him to go on her marathon shopping sprees with her. "Let's go."

 _This is going to be a mistake,_ Tommy thought as he was forcefully pulled away.

"I better go with you," Zack added, following them. "You'll need an expert to tell you what does and doesn't look good on you." He paused. "Like the color black."

Tommy laughed again. He couldn't help it. As much as he had become used to not having his powers anymore there was always truth in the saying: once a ranger, always a ranger.

* * *

 **A/N:** So, what did you guys think? There's more coming up and action really starts soon. More former rangers are going to be coming in soon as well and I'm excited for you all to see what happens when they do show up. Hayley's part does get bigger as the story goes on.

Who are you the most excited to see come back? And what do you think of Zack's reaction to Tommy having the black ranger powers?

 **~Avalon**


	11. Chapter 11: Adjusting

**Chapter 11**

 _Adjusting_

* * *

Bailey walked to her locker, spun the combination open, and yanked the door open. She looked over and her eyebrow rose when she spotted Kira standing at her locker, looking off down the hallway, partially hidden behind her locker door. Bailey leaned to the side and her eyes rested on a teenage boy dressed in a white button down shirt, a white t-shirt, blue jeans, and black shoes standing at his own locker. His head was bent down, bringing his hair into his face as he looked over a large sketch pad in his hands.

Bailey shifted her gaze back to Kira and she took a step closer to her, hoping her chuckle wouldn't reach the Yellow Ranger's ears. She took a breath then leaned into Kira's ear to say, "Enjoying the view?"

Kira jumped and turned around to see Bailey laughing at her. She ducked her head and glanced over at the guy, who looked their way due to Bailey's laughter. He smiled a little and turned back to his drawing as Kira crossed her arms. "I was just…wondering who he was," Kira defended herself. "Looks like he just moved here, too."

"Best time to do it, I reckon," Bailey commented. "It's the beginning of the year so there's not so much you'd be missing." She tilted her head to the side and her smile widened. "Though something tells me that you're not going to miss out on getting to know him, yeah?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kira insisted, turning her attention back to her locker. She started to look through some books though Bailey was sure she was just hoping to change the conversation topic. "Anyway, I don't have time to think about it when most of my time is being taken up by our day job."

"I know the feeling." Bailey smiled as she remembered the lame excuses that would explain her abrupt departures when she was still a ranger.

Part of her was glad that she didn't have to come up with anything on the fly anymore, but another part of her was aware it was only just the beginning with these new guys. If Mesogog had managed to get a hold on the black Dino Gem _and_ Tommy, Zack, Avalon, and herself, then he was certainly something that couldn't be taken lightly. The big question was; how did he manage to get a hold on the tyrannodrones that Tommy and Anton Mercer had managed to create when they were working together.

"It gets easier and having it be two separate parts of your lives gets easier to deal with as well," Bailey continued. "The only part that's hard is keeping it from your family."

"Yeah," Kira agreed. "How'd you manage to do it?"

"It helped that Av was a ranger before me," Bailey said, scratching her side of her head as she thought about it. "So we didn't have to worry so much about keeping that a secret from each other. But when it came to our parents…and that's a strange topic as it is, that was easier to hide."

"Oh really?" Kira looked at her curiously. "What's so strange about it?"

Bailey pressed her lips together. She shouldn't have brought it up. It _was_ a strange situation, indeed, and she still didn't know how to talk about it. Especially since her adoptive parents had passed so recently. That was something she tried her hardest not to put much thought into because it still hurt so badly. But to give the entire story hurt much worse.

"Who said something was strange?" Conner's voice interrupted as he and Ethan walked over to the group. As usual he had a soccer ball tucked under his arm and he shifted it to his hands once they came to a stop.

"Our _lives_ are strange," Ethan pointed out. "I don't think anything really needs to be said about it." Then he looked down the hallway and nodded. "Hey, isn't that that Trent guy from Hayley's? He's working there now, right?"

Kira looked over her shoulder once more before shrugging. "I don't know," she said. "I didn't really notice."

"Sort of a weird time to be coming into the school year, don't you think?" Conner asked.

Bailey's eyebrows furrowed together as she turned to him. "How is that any different from when I came into the school?"

"Well, he seems more like a loner and you…don't," Conner replied with a shrug.

Bailey smiled a little as she turned away. How true that was. Of course she wasn't always like that. For a long time she knew nothing other than being a loner; having to keep to herself or else she was in danger of being taken away. Even when she was helping out the rangers she had to keep herself when working in the Base, spending a lot of time helping Billy with the maintenance of the ranger's weapons and zords. Then she became a ranger herself and it was like a whole new world was open to her…and she was still a loner because she was much younger than the other rangers and couldn't tell her classmates what she was doing.

It was only as the older she got she became more outgoing, much more like her sister when she became comfortable around other people.

"Well, I mean, other than keeping it a secret that you're a power ranger," Conner added.

" _Was,"_ Bailey corrected him. "I _was_ one. I haven't been one for a while. And by now I figured you lot would understand why we _had_ to keep it a secret. It's nothing that can be spread around with good conscience. And besides, you know now and we're going to help you every way we can." She grinned. "Which reminds me, tonight you guys need to meet us down in the Base and you need to bring your sweats."

"Why?" Ethan asked.

"Because I'm going to teach you how to fight."

"I think by now we already know how to fight," Ethan pointed out. "I mean, we've been holding off Mesogog, Elsa, and Zeltrax with no problems so far."

"And there's always room for improvement. Trust me when I say these guys are going to do everything they can to make sure they become better than you and beat you with little to no effort." Bailey pulled her backpack up onto her shoulders and adjusted her purple knit hat over her hair. "And you don't want to be caught off guard when that happens."

"Sounds good to me," Kira agreed. "If we're going to save the city or whatever, then we're going to have to be good." She looked up as the bell rang. "And if Principal Randall catches up to us, we're not going to be doing much of anything."

Bailey, Kira, and Conner and Ethan hurried to their first period class, noticing Tommy look at his watch as they moved to go to their desks. Bailey gave him a look, "We're not that late, Tommy, relax."

"You know, I remember a time where you were the stickler for tardiness and kept your nose in a book," Tommy said to her. "And I was the one that was late and didn't worry so much about deadlines." He shook his head. "What happened?"

"We grew up," Bailey replied. "By the way," She leaned closer to Tommy, lowering her voice. "I told the others to be in the Base with their workout gear so I can work on their fighting with them. I was thinking we could start with—"

"—you don't need my help, Bay," Tommy interrupted. "I know you can handle teaching them everything they need to know."

Surprised, Bailey leaned her head back and looked at Tommy for a minute. Then her eyes narrowed. "I get it," She said. "You have some sort of a teacher's conference or something that you have to go to, don't you?" Tommy made a face and Bailey laughed. "No worries, bro, I can handle it. And Av and Zack can help me out if we do some sparring. I'm thinking we should also work on their marksmanship a bit too, work out the blasters to see if there's anything that needs to be fixed."

"That's probably a good idea. I mean, our last fight with Mesogog was only last week but it won't help if things go wrong the next time he sends out a monster of a horde of tyrannodrones. We can get Hayley to check some things out as we go along, so we know what's happening before we're taken by surprise." He looked up as the bell rang again, dark eyes shining behind his glasses. "Now take your seat before I have to give you detention."

"Aw, you wouldn't do that to your little sister, would you?" Bailey teased. Tommy pretended to think about it. "Boofhead. If you give me a detention it'd make my morale drop. And it's been proven that once morale drops all productivity stops and if my productivity stops then I'll start to fail all of my classes and I've never failed at anything in my entire life."

"Just take your seat."

"Fine."

Bailey turned on her heel and sat down in her seat, taking out her textbook and notebook. She looked up as Cassidy flung her hair over her shoulder and gave her a pointed look. "I bet we could all get special treatment from the teacher if he was our brother too," she said. "I bet Principal Randall would like to hear about it."

"I'm sure Principal Randall has no time for you, Cassidy," Conner spoke up. "Or room, because your ego and your head are so big they wouldn't fit in her office."

Cassidy wrinkled her nose and turned away from the two, shoving Devin on the arm as he started to snicker quietly. She turned even further away as he protested, "What? It was funny…c'mon Cass, it was funny."

Bailey looked up at Tommy as he started class and carefully ripped out a sheet of paper from her notebook. She tore it in half then wrote _Thanks for that_ on it before passing it over to Conner, turning so that it looked like she was paying attention to whatever it was Tommy was saying. Behind her, she heard Conner unfold the note, read it, then write back before nudging her arm to take it.

 _Don't worry about it. Cassidy will mind everyone else's business but her own._

 _Sounds like a lot of girls that I've met. Good to know no matter where you move there's always someone like that._ She added in a drawing of rolling eyes that made Conner smile once he received the note.

 _Where'd you move from?_

 _I've moved from Sydney, Australia, to Angel Grove, to Mariner Bay, to Blue Bay Harbor, back to Angel Grove, and now to Reefside. So I've been in California for a while, but have gone to a lot of different places._

 _My twin brother was in Blue Bay Harbor for a while._

 _Really?_

 _Yeah. He was going to some sort of a ninja school out there. Or at least that's what he said; I didn't pay too much attention to it. He has a habit of embellishing things, but Mom and Dad seem to believe everything he says._

 _Am I wrong or am I sensing some sort of hostility with your brother?_

 _I'm not hostile more…my Dad…well, my step-father, he can be a real pain in my ass sometimes. But he doesn't seem to care much about what he does and doesn't do._

 _Wait until they find out you're a Power Ranger, I'm sure they'll be proud of you for that._

 _I didn't say anything about them not being proud of me. Just that they can be a bit hard on me. Especially for my grades. They're happy when I can score a goal but can't seem to understand that school doesn't come as easily for me sometimes._

 _Apparently they don't get that you can get a scholarship from soccer and your grades. Being on the all-star team now must have them over the moon._

 _If the moon was as high off the ground as a trashcan then I'd have to agree._

Bailey took the note, read it, and couldn't contain her giggling. She realized Tommy had stopped talking and did her best to cut herself off but found she couldn't. Tommy turned her way with a raised eyebrow and opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Conner, who leaned back in his seat and gave Tommy a disarming smile.

"My bad, Dr. O," he apologized. "We won't bother you again."

Tommy continued to look at them then turned back to the board. Bailey smiled and mouthed 'thanks' to Conner before focusing for the rest of the class. Finally, Tommy announced that the class was to have a project they were going to work on for the entirety of the semester where at different intervals they would check in with the class to explain how things were going. Bailey listened for her name, rolling her eyes as Tommy called her by her first name—Abigail—to get back at her for disrupting class—and was partnered with Ethan.

"Honestly, I thought he was going to put me with Ethan," Conner said after he was paired with Kira.

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" Bailey asked, gathering her things together.

"Last year my parents had a conference with my teachers to put in project groups with people who were smarter, so that they could rub off on me or whatever," Conner explained. "But I'm glad to be in a group with Kira, she makes good grades and it doesn't seem like I'd have to put too much work into it."

"Ha! Think again, buddy," Kira snapped, overhearing their conversation. She reached behind her to pull her pigtails free of her backpack. Then she jabbed Conner in the chest. "I'm not going to be the one to do all of the work on this project so you better get your butt into gear."

"Okay, okay," Conner said, holding his hands up defensively.

"And you wonder why I'm glad that I'm not _her_ partner," Ethan muttered to Bailey in a side-whisper, causing the yellow ranger to turn his way with a glare. The blue ranger made a show of picking up his textbook and burying his face into them. "Not that there's anything wrong with it."

"Oh, Conner, Kira," Tommy called out, grabbing their attention. "There are an odd number of students in this class and Trent needs a group so I'm putting him with you." The four teens turned and watched as Trent slowly gathered his things and put them in his backpack. As if afraid to go over to them.

Conner scratched the back of his head. "Uh, Dr. O? Do you think that's a good idea?"

"Yeah, I mean what if there's a…" Kira trailed off as she tried to think of an excuse. She snapped her fingers a few times before continuing with, "What if there's a situation that comes up and—"

"—and I'm sure you all can figure out how to make things work," Tommy said calmly. He snapped his briefcase shut as Trent inched his way towards the group. "Unless you don't think you can handle working in a group of three."

"No!" Kira said quickly once Trent was by their side. "I mean, I guess it's not a big deal." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "We can work things out. Don't worry."

Conner gave her a funny look." Yeah, sure, whatever," he added. He turned to Trent and held out his hand. "Welcome to the group. I'm Conner."

"Yeah, and I'm…Kira." She shook his hand firmly.

"Yeah, I kind of got that," Trent agreed.

"And I'm Ethan and that's Bailey," Ethan introduced himself. "Nice to meet you, man. We heard that you just moved here."

"Yeah, me and my Dad. We've traveled a lot over the past year or so. So it's good to finally get settled down into one place. And Reefside looks pretty good…despite those monsters that attacked. Is that a common thing here or..?"

Bailey shrugged and shook her head while Conner, Kira, and Ethan all made noncommittal noises that didn't necessarily answer his question. But he dropped it and smiled at the group once more. "Well, I'll see you guys later, I have a study hall right now, so—"

"—so do I," Kira said. "I'll…show you where it is."

"I've got a history class," Conner said.

"Math," Bailey and Ethan said at the same time. As a matter of fact Ethan was in most of her classes, as they were in the advanced classes that were offered to the seniors.

"Cool, we'll see you later," Conner said and gave a wave before leaving the classroom. Bailey waved back and picked up her backpack off the floor. She turned and noticed Tommy watching her as she walked towards him.

"What?"

"Nothing." Bailey gave him a look as she stepped by him and the two headed down the hallway. Tommy shifted his briefcase to his other hand and made a gesture with his hand. "It's just…I know you date and everything but now I have to actually watch it in front of me. It's not a very good feeling."

"Who said anything about dating?" Bailey widened her eyes innocently. "And besides, why are you reading _me_ the riot act. You never did this with Av, yeah?"

"That's because Av is only a couple months younger than me," Tommy pointed out. "And because she was with Billy. I don't think there was _anything_ that I really had to worry about there." He paused. "Now Jason is a completely different story."

Bailey laughed.

###

"What are you doing?"

Tying her hair back into a ponytail Bailey stepped up behind Avalon and Zack as they sat at the computers in the Base. Avalon turned in her seat, tearing her eyes away from the monitor that showed a topographical map of Reefside. "We're trying to see if we can get a hit on any new sources of power," she explained. "Just in case we missed something with Mesogog's lair."

"Like another Dino Gem," Zack pointed out.

Bailey blinked at them for a few seconds. "Why?" She asked.

"Why? Bay, I think you're turning into a boofhead because it should be obvious," Avalon remarked, ignoring Bailey when she stuck her tongue out at her sister. "The past few ranger teams have always had an extra ranger pop up at some point or another. To the point that it seems to be a tradition, remember the Zeo powers?"

Bailey nodded. She remembered that clearly. She hadn't been able to take on the Zeo Powers herself because she wasn't of 'pure heart' to take them. Which wasn't untrue; at the time she greatly wondered what her life would be life as a young teen and able to go to parties and make new friends and not keep so many secrets. Her indecision about it kept her from being a Zeo Ranger and as much as she missed the power, she still worked really well in the Base along with Fred, Bailey, and Jason (at the time) so it wasn't a big loss. Then the Gold Ranger had suddenly appeared in the form of Evie Caldwell and everything seemed to spiral after that.

"Well, we figured it was probably a good idea to see if we could find other Dino Gems before they could get them and see who would take them on," Zack explained. He yawned, rubbing his eyes. "We've been at it all day?"

"All day?!" Bailey's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. "No wonder you lot look like you're about to keel over. Go out and get some sun or something."

Zack gave her a wry smile. "Not many people are very happy to see me when I go around," he pointed out. "I'd have a job but ex-cons aren't a population many people hire from either."

"I told you I'd help you find a job, mate," Avalon reassured her.

With a shake of his head, Zack pushed away the thought. "Don't worry about it; I'll figure something out. If there's a good place to start over its Reefside. And I'm getting the feeling that Tommy doesn't want me on his couch much longer."

"Yeah, well, he'll be outvoted, it's not a big deal," Avalon reassured him. She looked at her sister closely. "You're going to teach the others how to fight?"

"That's the plan," Bailey agreed, tightening the black belt along the front of her purple gi. "Tomorrow we'll go over marksmanship with them if that's alright with you."

"Ace, it gives me something to do," Avalon added. It was then Bailey noticed something odd flash across her sister's face. A look she hadn't seen for a long time; a secretive once. If there was one thing Avalon was good at, it was being secretive…and a bit standoffish when she first met people…and overprotective, and stubborn…and tough…and she had a tendency to leap before she looked. But at least those qualities had seemed to diminish over time and show the person she knew as the more sensitive side of her sister.

But now, there was clearly something she was hiding. Bailey glanced at her with a raised eyebrow and Avalon tilted her head towards Zack before miming pulling a zip across her lips. Okay, she got it. She wasn't going to say it when Zack was there and she would be told later.

No worries.

"You know, Tommy _did_ say something about the school looking for some more teachers," Bailey started.

"Pass."

"But you could be his assistant and you can keep an eye on the other rangers when Tommy can't!"

"Again, I'll have to pass." Avalon's eyes lit up as she smirked. "With his power ranger powers Tommy was a good leader. But I can't imagine what he would be like when his power as a teacher goes to his head." She and Zack laughed good naturedly, only calming down once Kira, Ethan, and Conner walked into the base dressed in athletic gear. "Good luck, sis."

"Thanks, sis," Bailey replied. She tightened her belt once more and motioned for the rangers to step up to the edge of the practice mat. "We're going to get some stretching in first and then we're going to spar so I can see where your guys' skill levels are."

"Is that black belt real?" Kira asked her eyes nearly bugging out of her head.

"True blue," Bailey agreed. "I hope it doesn't scare you."

"No, I'm just not going to fight against you," Ethan said with a light laugh. "I'm not trying to have my life end too soon." He reached out and grabbed onto Kira's shoulder. "Dibs on Kira!" She nodded and grabbed his arm in return.

"No problem," Conner said. Bailey tried not to laugh, hearing the air of bravado in his voice despite the slight glimpse of uncertainty in his face. "I'll go against you. I'm not afraid."

"You should be," Avalon sing-songed from the corner of the base.

Bailey smiled.

* * *

 **A/N:** It's been a long while since I updated this and I'm sorry. I've been dealing with school and some personal stuff but the year is almost over so thing's get better soon. Either way I'm sorry that you all had to wait what so long.

What did you think about the chapter? I hadn't really shown Bailey's POV in a bit so here's a chapter full of it with the next one being more about Avalon and Tommy. Who do you think will be the next past ranger to come into the story?

For those of you that read my Dino Charge story _Pretty Lady_ I'm working on the sequel to that.

 **~Avalon**


	12. Chapter 12: Green With Guilt IV

**Chapter 12**

 _Green With Guilt, IV  
_

* * *

Tommy leaned over his work bench with his face in his hands. He kept his eyes closed tightly then let out a long sigh when he opened them once more. There had to be something about the Tyrannodrones that would help them figure out how they were being created, how Mesogog had found a way to take control of them.

They were something that he and Anton Mercer had created to see if it were possible; if it were possible to combine dinosaur DNA with technology. And they had done it. It was going to be the best thing the world had ever seen, further advancements would be made. There could be cross-species creations, ways to keep species from dying out completely; they could understand the time times the dinosaurs roamed that much further. And it had completely gone up in flames.

Every time he closed his eyes to sleep he saw the explosion of the lab over and over again. He heard the screams of those who were entrapped by the flames, those who had gotten stuck under rubble within the first few explosions. They were the anguished screams of those that knew they weren't going to get out of alive and grasped at any piece of humanity they had left. And as Tommy raced through the winding hallways, shielding his face from sparks and clouds of dust that flung towards him, he heard Anton right behind him. The two continued to run through the crumbling structures until Tommy made it through one doorway and there was another explosion. It pitched him forward and he turned around to see the opening that separated him and Anton was now on fire, a burning beam having fallen from the ceiling.

"Tommy!" Anton called, bringing his sleeve up to cover his mouth. "Tommy, get out of here!"

"No," Tommy called back. He moved closer to the burning beam, hoping to find a way around it. But the heat was too intense and he had to back away. "Not without you."

"I'll be fine! Go!"

And so Tommy turned on his heel and continued to run as hard and fast as he could towards the exit. The walls, ceilings, and floors continued to quake and tremble, threatening Tommy with their impending crumbling which would trap him inside. His lungs burned as much as his legs and yet he continued to push himself as hard as he could. Finally, he reached the exit and raced out to the jungle side, only allowing himself to turn back once. Watching the laboratories continue to crumble amidst explosions and balls of fire that streaked towards the sky made his heart sink and sink even further when he found he was the only one outside.

Leaning back and forth, Tommy waited.

Waited for a sign there was someone else who made it.

Waited for Anton to make it out.

Waited for anything that would show him that none of this was real.

But it didn't come. He was the only one who made it out, he had to accept that. There was another blast that shot flames up so high and so fast there was a sudden flash of light that made him shield his eyes. And the resulting shockwave and trembling of the island beneath his feet let him know he had to get off the island _now._

And so he jumped and he flew and he crashed into the water before, turning around to find the laboratories disintegrate and collapse into dust. For a long time he treaded water, swimming away from the island in a good pace. If he tired himself out he wouldn't make it too far, but if he went too slowly there was a chance marine life would start to sniff around him. His entire body ached and screamed, wanting him to rest but he had to keep going.

Finally there was a helicopter that flew overhead leading a boat that raced through the water. The emergency systems that had gone off with the first explosion had sent out a distress signal. Thankfully that hadn't been damaged amongst the other blasts. The next thing Tommy knew he was in warm, dry clothes resting in a bunk on the ship, gently rocked back and forth to sleep. A dreamless sleep that reminded him of the fates of others that didn't make it out.

And he continued to dream about that night, continued to see it every time he closed his eyes. He was the only survivor but as long as Tommy was concerned, he had died in that explosion as well. The _old_ him.

Standing up, Tommy moved away from his work bench and stretched his arms over his head, the ceiling lights bouncing off the silver bracelet on his wrist. A black gem was nestled gently inside. His Dino Gem. It was hard to believe he was a ranger again—let alone a black ranger, he was just as surprised as Zack, Avalon, and Bailey—thinking he had been done with his time serving to protect the city with the super powers. And here he was again, now in the middle of a fight against Mesogog, who seemed to have some sort of a vendetta against him and what he was trying to do.

And if the source to that was by spending more time with Tyrannodrones, then so be it.

Rubbing his burning eyes, Tommy slapped his hand down over his bracelet covered wrist then stretched his arms. That was enough research for that day. As it was, he still had a lot of grading he needed to do for school and from what he had seen of the first portion, he was going to be using a lot of red ink for the rest of it. Leaving the basement ,Tommy walked up into the living room where he found Bailey stretched out on the couch, her phone to her ear and staring at the ceiling as she listened to whomever was on the other end, Zack was nowhere to be seen, and Avalon sat on the other couch, her face buried into the computer screen.

"Who's she talking to?" Tommy asked, nodding with his chin over to Bailey.

Avalon looked up and shrugged. "Honestly, I have no idea. She's been on the phone for at least an hour and I haven't heard her say anything once." She smirked and tuned back to her computer. "I reckon it's the most peace and quiet we'll get out of here."

Chuckling, Tommy walked over to the leather armchair and sat down. Leaning over he picked up his briefcase that sat beside the chair and started to pour papers out onto his lap. Then he picked up a pen and started to read trough them. "So what are you up to over there?" He asked, lifting his eyes over the top of his glasses to look at Avalon.

"It's a surprise," came the sly reply.

"And by surprise you mean a 'job'?" Tommy pressed.

Avalon sighed a little and glared at Tommy over the top of her laptop. "Would you get off my back about that? I'm trying. I already told you that I have a book deal that I'm working on, or do you think I just sit on my butt all day. If you paid me for helping you down in our new Command Center we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"Relax, Av, I'm just kidding," Tommy reassured her. "I know you're working hard." He paused for a minute, tapping his pen against the pad of paper. "But speaking of the Command Center, there're some things I want to test but I don't have the equipment here to do so. Have you spoken to your father lately?"

Now Avalon tilted her head to the side as she thought of the best way to answer. As it was, Tommy knew it was a bit of a touchy subject and would probably always continue to be one. "Not lately," she replied. "Why? Is there something you wanted to look into specifically?"

"Well, we know he and Miss. Fairweather single handedly created the Zords and powers that were made for the Lightspeed Rescue team," Tommy explained. "Just as Hayley and I have done for these new powers. But now that the Tyrannodrones have been created again, and as far as I have seen with them, they've mutated. They're not the same kinds of things that Anton and I had created a long time ago. Something or someone had tampered with them and unless I can figure out what that is we're going to continue being at a disadvantage."

"If Billy we were we'd probably be able to reverse engineer them or something," Avalon pointed out. "That is, if we could capture one. Or maybe Trini could help."

Tommy smiled and nodded. That was true. If Billy Cranston was around they would've been able to figure out how even that big Tyrannosaurus Rex outside of the museum was able to come after the two.. _If it wasn't for that low overpass then we might not be here right now,_ Tommy reminded himself. Of course that had been all over the news as well, especially since the dinosaur had suddenly disappeared afterwards. It was Mesogog, he knew that for sure. But how had he managed to do it? And what _was_ Mesogog?

Shaking his head, Tommy turned his attention back to his students' papers and he graded them as quickly as he could. Soon he was so far into the work, reading their opinions on why studying dinosaurs was good for education that he pushed out every memory of the island explosion and every thought of the tyrannodrones and Mesogog. Then he realized it was far too quiet and lifted his head to see a few hours had passed and Zack was still not around.

"He said he was going out to look for some jobs," Avalon explained once Tommy asked her where he was. "Though, of course, given his status that may be incredibly difficult." It was then Tommy noticed the smile she was trying to suppress and asked about it. "Okay, I reckon this isn't going to be a secret for long, but if you tell anyone, Tommo, then I'll kill you."

"I've seen you fight against Putties, Z-Putties, Tengas, and Cogs, by now I know you would very well keep that promise," Tommy remarked. He smiled, setting his completed stack of papers aside, making a mental note to speak to Conner about his grade the next morning. "What's up?"

"Lieutenant—I mean, _Detective_ Stone retired from the Angel Grove Police Department a while ago but he still has contacts in police departments. I called and asked him to see if there were any ways for him to set Zack up with a job, or at least know of any leads that Zack could apply for."

"That's a great idea, Av," Tommy agreed. "Because something tells me that he wouldn't be too happy to be my teaching aid."

"If this is your way of asking me to fill in with that position you need to try harder, boofhead," Avalon teased. She looked up as Bailey let out a grunt of frustration and threw her phone down to the end of the couch. Then she sat up and said a slew of curse words mixed in with a bunch of Aussie slang that he couldn't comprehend what she had even been trying to say.

"Watch your language, please," Tommy scolded her. "What're you so upset about?"

"I already told you, it's a surprise," Avalon said calmly.

"A surprise that doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon," Bailey grumbled. She got up from the couch and stomped across the room before her footsteps made her disappear up the stairs.

"And I thought I had to worry about you and _your_ cursing," Tommy remarked.

"Ha, just wait. Living with two women is probably not going to go well for you. Especially now that Bay is in high school." Avalon closed her laptop and left the living room, saying she was going to go check on Bailey.

Now that he had complete peace and quiet to himself, Tommy leaned back in his seat and rested his arms on his chest, closing his eyes. There was so much work that had to be done around his ranger duties, working with Bailey to practice martial art with the new rangers, spending time with Hayley to figure out if there were any improvements that could be made on their weapons and zords, working with Zack and Avalon to map out the places tyrannodrones have shown up as well as tracking potential energy pings that may indicate more Dino Gems or other sources of energy…

And that was all when he wasn't doing his school work. If it weren't for the extra energy and power boost being a ranger gave he was sure he would pass out at some point.

And as Tommy closed his eyes he found his dreams completely empty once more. However, instead of seeing inky black darkness, everything was a shade of green. It twisted and turned and swirled, creating intricate figures and shapes that disappeared before Tommy could completely figure out what it was. Then there was the sense of foreboding that came from the darkness, it encircled him just as much as the shades of green did, enclosing tighter and tighter around him. The pressure was intense and continued to increase, making his head hurt. That's when the shade of green started to make specific shapes.

A dagger.

A dinosaur.

A witch.

And then he watched all of his old fights play out in front of him once again. Fights as the green ranger, he watched his friends continue to fall to his power. Over and over as if the replay button was broken. Tommy tried to break out of the dream, tried to force himself to leap into battle and stop himself. Anything so that he could protect Jason, Zack, Billy, Trini, and Kimberly. But he was stuck, rooted to the spot, forced to replay his worst nightmare.

Finally, after destroying the rangers once more, the green ranger turned his way and Tommy's breath caught in his throat at the horrific sight. This green ranger resembled a zombie; his helmet cracked with pieces missing, showing off an eye that was wild and crazy, another opening showed his mouth with razor sharp teeth. His suit had holes in it as well, showing graying skin and bloody wounds. Tommy tried to move into a fighting stance as the green ranger shuffled his way, holding his dagger high about his head.

But Tommy could do nothing but watch him move closer and closer

 _…_

 _.._

 _._

With a start, Tommy shot forward in his seat, eyes flying open. He brought his hands up to his flushed face and wiped away sweat. His black t-shirt clung to his skin and his skin continued to dot as wave after wave of warmth hit him. It took him a few seconds to calm down and even though his racing heart calmed his breaths continued to come out ragged.

Tommy leaned forward and pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes, waiting to calm down all together. _It's alright, Tommy. There's nothing here. The green ranger isn't here anymore._ "Calm down," he whispered to himself. "Calm down. You're okay."

Finally, when he regained used of his body, Tommy leaned back in the seat. He closed his eyes for a minute then opened them again. He was at home, he was safe in Reefside—as safe as he could be—and there was nothing after him. Glancing to the side, Tommy found the remote and turned on the TV.

Normally he didn't waste his time with mindless channels, but the news was on and that as something that'd take his mind off of everything. That was, until he saw the story that was being highlighted. There was a man that had just created a huge business opportunity that released new jobs for those looking for employment in Reefside. That wouldn't have interested him much in the slightest if it weren't for the image of the man they had down on screen.

Tommy's breath caught in his throat and he leaned forward to get a better look. "That's impossible," he whispered. The man they were showing, as far as Tommy was concerned he was dead. It was the man that had told him to race of the island as he had the opportunity to do so. Tommy had grieved over him just as much as he had everyone else that perished in the island explosion.

And yet there he was on the TV screen, smiling and waving as reporters' camera flashes continued to bathe him in sporadic light.

Anton Mercer was alive.

* * *

 **A/N:** More fights coming in the next chapter. _And_ because I'm close to finishing _These Walls_ more former rangers are coming in and more things can be revealed about their whereabouts and what they've been up to since their time as rangers ended.

If you've noticed by the chapter title, _Green with Guilt IV,_ this is a continuation of Tommy's plot point from _These Walls_. You only need to read the chapters entitled _Green with Guilt I-II_ and _Pride_ from _These Walls_ for it to make sense for those that haven't been following along.

Well, I'm sorry this chapter is short but I do have a good reason for it. I just finished up my last year of school, like forever, and am graduating with my Masters this upcoming Friday so a _lot_ of my time had gone into that. But now that I'm done I'll certainly give more time to this story and my other stories. Thank you all for being so patient with me.

 **~Avalon**


	13. Chapter 13: Never Let Your Guard Down

**Chapter 13**

 _Never Let Your Guard Down  
_

* * *

Avalon ducked out of the way of a high kick and lunged towards Ethan, bending low so that she missed the punch Kira sent her way. Then she stood up and placing her hands on Ethan's shoulders for leverage, flipped over Ethan's head. Landing on the practice mat below her, she crouched down and did a sweeping kick that knocked his feet out from underneath him. When he hit the ground, Avalon rolled backwards and kicked herself back to her feet, bringing her fists up by the sides of her face.

She bounced back and forth on the heels of her feet, then ducked once more as she saw Conner's fist come towards her out of the corner of her eye. Then he, Kira, and Ethan all circled around her, doing their best to subdue her. On paper their plan of keeping her from being able to keep from having clear space behind her worked, But her experience showed as she made quick work of the three rangers, blocking each of their attacks and knocking them out of the way with gentle shoves. Finally she took a few steps forward, launched herself into the air with a spinning twist, and knocked the three to the ground with a kick in the chest.

"Time!" Bailey called, dropping a stop watch that rested around her neck. She wrote something down on a clipboard and walked over to her friends and sister. She beamed. "You beat your record, Av."

"With these three being so predictable it wasn't so hard, yeah?" Avalon replied, gently rubbing her knuckles. She watched as Conner, Kira, and Ethan climbed off of the practice mats. "That would've hurt worse if they didn't have enhanced abilities because of their powers."

"No need to scare them, sis," Bailey said with a smile. "I think Mesogog's Tyrannodrones do it enough. Especially considering they seem to be coming up a lot more lately." She set her clipboard and stopwatch aside. "It can't just be me that thinks it's weird there are more of those guys around rather than monsters as of late."

"It's not just you, its experience and intuition," Avalon replied. "Those guys being around more often just means that Mesogog is up to something and they're either trying to wear you out or he's biding his time for a really back attack." She turned back to the three rangers in front of her. "So you need to keep your eyes and ears peeled."

"Sorry, did you say something?" Conner asked sarcastically. His hands were cupped over his ears and a scowl pulled at his lips. "My ears are still ringing from being hit upside the head."

"You must be used to it then. I've seen you get hit in the head many times by soccer balls," Kira remarked, rubbing her shoulder. "It's a wonder that you even have any brain cells left." Her smirk faded when Ethan turned to her with an innocent smile and said, "I didn't know you went to any of the school's soccer games."

Conner then grinned as he crossed his arms and turned to Kira as well. The yellow ranger's eyes shifted for a few moments then she completely averted her gaze as she said, "That's not important right now! What's important is…if we can get beaten by Avalon, Tommy, and Bailey so easily, how can we stand up to the Tyrannodrones that are constantly showing up?"

"That's why we're training you," Avalon pointed out. "To make sure that you're ready in case there's an even stronger monster that shows you. You have to be prepared for everything." She turned her head and greeted Zack as he walked into the lair, bounding down the steps from the main house. "Hey Zack," She greeted him.

"Hey," he replied.

"Awesome, how'd you know he was even there?" Conner asked, his eyes widening. He then snapped his fingers and pointed at her. "Oh, I know! It has to do with the whole knowing your surroundings and being prepared for everything, right?"

"No, I heard the front door," Avalon remarked, tilting her head back and gently lifted her chin. She gave the three a funny look. "Besides, he needs to watch the place before I get back so you can get to school."

"What about Tommy?" Bailey asked, looking at her sister, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Isn't he going to take us to school?"

"Not today. He said he had something he needed to take care of before he went into class today. So you lot are stuck with me." She smiled, swinging a set of car keys around her finger.

Bailey looked at her sister for a moment longer then abruptly walked over to the other side of the room, and picked up a helmet. She strapped it onto her head and stared pointedly at her sister. "If that's the case, I think I'll be safer with this."

Avalon scowled. "I don't drive that fast."

"It's not your driving that's the problem, Sis, it's that you're so short I'm always afraid you can't see over the dashboard."

Avalon pouted then scowled. "Just shut up and get into the car." She stomped over to the stairs, practically pushing Zack out of her way, and then paused to address him. She said something to him that the others couldn't see, where he looked at them and nodded before going over to a computer and pulling up a scanner. Then Avalon led the teenagers out to Tommy's jeep and climbed inside—where Avalon ignored Bailey's smirk as she dumped a phone book into the driver's seat before sitting down.

"We're not really going to need life insurance or anything are we?" Ethan asked, squeezing into the back seat with Kira and Conner. He winced as he leaned over to pull on the seat belt. "And I don't just mean for your driving."

Avalon rolled her eyes. She started the car and pulled the jeep out onto the road, accelerating quickly. "These guys are going to try and get at you as much as possible. Unfortunately, when you started, you weren't already morphed so that means they've got locks on your faces. If Mesogog is smart, he'll be watching you guys as long as he can to understand what makes you tick, what your strengths and weaknesses are—"

"Wait, you mean like _watching_ watching?" Kira asked. She leaned in from the backseat, grasping the headrests of Avalon's and Bailey's seats as she did so. "Like watching and making note of everything we do or say?" Her nose wrinkled. "That's really sick! That's totally an invasion of our privacy!"

"They're bad guys, Kira, they don't care much for privacy," Conner pointed out. "And besides, what are you so worried about? Do you think they'll catch you at another soccer game? God forbid you actually want to participate in some school events every now and then."

Bailey giggled as Ethan laughed.

Kira, on the other hand, crossed her arms and glared at Conner. "And what's so bad about wanting to exert my independence every now and then? What's so bad about not wanting to become another brainwashed teenager who peaks in high school and continues to bask in the glory that was their soccer team before realizing that they can't relive it?"

"What's so bad is that you're acting like you're better than all of it when, in reality, you're just like the rest of us," Conner said.

"Yeah, you wish!"

"How'd you know?"

Avalon shook her heads as she looked at the bickering teenagers in the rearview mirror. She glanced at Bailey, who gave her a knowing look in return, then focused her attention back on the road. She didn't have to worry too much about Kira. Instead she would probably have a small talk with her, herself. Kira's view points on school were very similar to the way Avalon used to think when she had first transferred into Angel Grove High. Of course Avalon hadn't been in school for some time before, somehow being able to make it without anyone doing a wellness check on her and her sister. The last thing she wanted to do at the time was make friends and go to school events when there were more important things to deal with.

Though Kira seemed to have an even deeper chip on her shoulder than she did.

She could understand it in some way; being new to ranger powers was always hard. And as far as she could see, there were things in their lives that they were incredibly serious about. Not only did Conner play for the school's soccer team, but somehow he managed to work playing on the travel team as well, Kira was very serious with her music playing, and Ethan was the head of many clubs and teams that tickled his fancy. There were more things at stake with them and she knew how hard it was to give up a dream to become a ranger. Many of her friends had to deal with it and it was something that would continuously be battled as time went on.

"So is there anything about this Mesogog guy that you can fill us in on?" Ethan asked.

"Other than the fact that he's a disgusting looking lizard like creature with bad breath and psychopathic cronies?" Kira asked.

"Yes, other than that. I mean, he's just like one of the monsters you have to face in the computer game I'm playing."

"Yeah, but the only different is that this guy can actually kill us," Conner pointed out.

Avalon shook her head again. Then she spoke loudly so that she could push down any arguments that were about to break out. _These guys really are from different worlds. _"The only thing we know about Mesogog is what we know from our own interactions with him. Not even Tommy knows much about him and he's been studying these guys and things for a _long_ time." She pulled up into the parking lot and cut the engine on the car then twisted around to face the three in the back. "Seriously though, you lot need to learn how to get along. Not only are you going to have to rely on each other in the face of battle, but the residents of Reefside rely on you too. If you can't keep your personal issues out of the battlefield, then you're just going to endanger everyone around you and I don't think Tommy is to keen to babysit you boofheads. Got it?"

Kita, Ethan, and Conner all nodded in agreement.

"Good, now get out or you'll be late." Avalon unlocked the car doors and the rangers quickly climbed out of the backseat, taking their backpacks as they went. She turned and wrinkled her nose, finding Bailey still looking at her. "Was I too harsh?"

"No, I think they got the message. It was very much like what Zordon would've told us if we were ever fighting as much as they are. I think you handled it exactly as he would have." she paused. "I mean, the accent wasn't quite the same—"

"Yeah, yeah, just got to school Goober."

"See you later, Booger."

Bailey slid out of the passenger seat and left the car as well. Avalon leaned over to shift the car into reverse, and then stopped as the overwhelming feeling of being watched came over her. She leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes for a brief moment, trying to focus on the feeling so that she could get an idea of where it was coming from. Opening her eyes, she shifted her head to the side and her eyes scanned the school grounds, stopping by the entrance to the cafeteria.

She watched as Principal Randall watched her in turn. The head of the school lifted her hand and slowly adjusted the glasses that were perched upon her nose. Her lips curled back into a scowl as her hand lowered to her hips, staring at Avalon from across the parking lot. Avalon stared back at her, tightening her grip on the steering wheel of the car. Principal Randall slowly turned and walked inside the school.

"Do you know who that is?" With a start, Avalon jumped and whirled around to find Chase leaning into the car, resting his arms on the driver's side door. His green eyes didn't tear away from Principal Randall until she disappeared completely into the school. Then he turned back to Avalon, his eyebrows coming down as she glared at him. "What?"

"You're bad news that's what," Avalon replied. "You only seem to show up when you want something, you're in trouble, or you're about to drag me into it." She shook her head. "I got rid of you ages ago and now you're here in Reefside. That can't be a coincidence."

Chase blinked slowly. "I have family that lives here. Imagine my surprise when I saw you walking around one day."

"So how'd you get the number to the house? I'm pretty sure Tommy has it unlisted."

"I have my ways."

"And the reason you suddenly bolted away from the café?"

"I bet you can imagine that the police aren't typically happy when they see me," Chase replied. He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck, his fingers tracing over the twisting and turning body of the snake that was tattooed there. "Not a lot of people are, actually. Do you think you could give me a ride back to my place? We need to talk about a few things."

Avalon was silent for a long time. She had absolutely no idea what to think. On one hand, she knew Chase to be someone that usually meant what he said. Though that was usually in terms of threats and plans the Vipers were going to pull. And he had also told the truth when he said they were all going to protect each other while they were in the gang. Then Avalon had left and they had turned on her, true to everything they had ever said. And he had kept his promise while he had been in jail, keeping her out of everything that was going on while the Vipers slowly disbanded.

But on the other hand she knew him as cruel, ruthless, and vindictive individual. He made decisions that benefited himself and wasn't above kidnapping or threatening even the most innocent person to get his way. She hadn't met anyone that she thought was a personification of having no heart until she had seen him in action. (And until she had stared evil in the face over and over again in ranger battles).

"What are you doing here anyway?" Avalon finally asked. She continued to look around the school's grounds as the bell rang, signaling a stampede of students to rush inside. No one around to be a witness in case something happened.

Chase then reached up and patted the swatch of cloth that hung over his shoulder. "As it turns out, I just got a job as a janitor here. Imagine my surprise when I saw that your sister was attending this school. Can't say I'm not surprised, as I was just told by Principal Randall it's one of the better schools for students in the county."

"Did you suddenly find out that you have an illegitimate child? I can't imagine you're suddenly so interested in schools."

"You never know, I may go back. Anyway, do you mind giving me a ride back to my place? We can catch up on the way considering we were interrupted last time." He didn't give Avalon a chance to respond before climbing into the passenger seat of the car. "I'll give you directions on the way."

Sighing, Avalon backed the car out of the space and started out of the parking lot. "Alright, just don't do anything stupid." She watched Chase out of the corner of her eye as he slouched down in his seat, resting his head in his upraised hand. He sat quietly for a few minutes then stretched forward to drop his new uniform to the floor. Avalon's dark eyes moved to the holster on the side of his jeans.

From where she sat she couldn't see if there was a weapon sitting in the case.

"No problem," Chase said, sitting back in his seat.

Avalon's eyes narrowed as she continued to drive.

One thing she was glad that being a ranger taught her that she hadn't lost…she never let her guard down.

###

Tommy placed his hands on his hips as he stood on the front porch of the sprawling mansion. He turned around and shook his head as he looked over the perfectly manicured lawn and shrubs lining the walk up to the house. There was a large fountain sitting in the middle of the road that split the driveway leading up to the house into two halves of a circle. The water spitting out of the top of the fountain made gentle pitter-patter sounds as it hit the collection of water below. Even as Tommy walked by he could see coins resting at the bottom of the fountain.

IF Anton Mercer really did live there he certainly didn't waste any expense.

"Oh, Dr. Oliver." Tommy turned around and his eyes widened when he spotted Trent standing on the front porch with him, slowly closing the front door behind him. His eyes narrowed. "Wh…what are you doing here? You didn't come to speak about school did you? I didn't think any of my grades counted yet."

"No, I…" Tommy trailed off. He took a step back and glanced up at the front of the porch where the house number was listed. It was the same address he had found online. For Anton Mercer's place. So what was Trent doing there? "I'm sorry; I might be in the wrong place. I came to talk to Anton Mercer but—"

"Oh, okay, hold on." Trent opened the front door again and took a step back. He leaned into the house and called, "Dad, there's someone here to see you."

 _Dad?_ Tommy looked over Trent's head, trying to see into the sprawling house. But he couldn't see anything from where Trent stood in front of the door. Finally, the door opened wider and Anton Mercer adjusted his tie as he stepped out onto the front porch as well. Tommy's eyes widened as Anton turned towards him and raised his eyebrows. There didn't seem to be an expression of recognition on his face or anything that showed he knew Tommy at all.

"Anton," Tommy breathed. "It's…I didn't think….you're alive."

Trent looked back and forth between his father and his teacher. "You know each other?"

"We worked on the same project when the island…" Tommy trailed off.

"Yes, it's nice to see you again, Tommy," Anton said. He cleared his throat and turned to Trent, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Son, you should head out to school or else you'll be late. You've already gone into the school year behind the others I don't want you to fall even more behind."

"Yes, father," Trent replied. He looked over at Tommy once more before leaving the porch and walking towards the detached garage. Anton watched him go, a peculiar smile on his face.

Tommy waited until Trent was out of ear shot before turning back to Anton. He gently shook his head and raised his hands. Then he dropped them against his sides. "Anton, I didn't know you were back in Reefside. I haven't heard anything since the explosion. I thought I was the only one who made it."

"Obviously you're not," Anton replied. He cleared his throat and reached up, straightening his tie once more. Then he rested his hands behind his back and looked Tommy up and down. "So rumor has it that you're not a teacher at Trent's school."

"Yes, I'm his homeroom teacher," Tommy explained. He shook his head in confusion. Everything in the world they could talk about, so many things they had to catch up on and all he wanted to talk about was how Trent was in his class. "I didn't…well, Trent doesn't really look like you. And you've never mentioned him when we were working together—"

"For someone who has experience within his own family, you'd figure you would be a bit more welcoming to the idea of adoption."

"Right. Yes. Of course. It's just…it's weird to see you here again." Tommy licked his lips and took a step closer to Anton, lowering his voice. "There has been a lot of strange things going on around here. But you need to know, our experiments that we've been working…someone's gotten a hold of them."

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," Anton said. He took a deep breath through his nose and grasped Tommy's arm. "Tommy, everything that we've ever faced on the island is gone. You need to move on. Thinking that our experiments have managed to go further than that…are you sure it's not just your guilt talking."

"My guilt?" Tommy repeated. Now he took a deep breath. Anything to keep down the flash of anger that made him clench his hand into a fist. He had to remember that Anton hadn't been in Reefside long and he might not have known about the monsters that went through the city. It would've been hard to explain it. "Right. You might be right. Take care of yourself Anton; look me up if you ever need to talk. I'll be in touch."

"If you feel its best," Anton replied. He stepped into the house and started to close the door behind him. Then stopped and looked straight into Tommy's eyes. "It was good to see you again, Tommy." Then he disappeared behind the door and closed it tight.

Tommy stood on the front porch for another minute then turned on his heel and walked back down the driveway where his cab was waiting. He still needed to get to school so that he could make it to his first class on time. How he was going to make it the entire day wondering what was going on with Anton and him not wanting to know about the Tyrannodrones would be on the back of his mind for a while.

He only made it halfway down the long drive when an invisiportal opened up and a horde of Tyrannodrones appeared in front of him. Tommy came to a stop and shook his head. "Come on guys, not to day," he said to them. The Tyrannodrones took a step closer and Tommy immediately moved into a fighting stance. "Looks like you're not willing to be civil." They moved even closer. "I guess I'm going to have to teach you a lesson."

With that he flung himself into a fight with the Tyrannodrones.

In an upstairs window of the mansion, Anton stood behind a curtain as he watched the fight below.


	14. Chapter 14: When Pigs Fly

**Chapter 14**

 _When Pigs Fly_

* * *

Kira tapped her pencil against her desktop as she watched Conner continued to stare at the notebook in front of him. He hemmed and hawed. Letting out light sighs as he did so then brought his hands up to scratch his forehead.

"Conner, we went over this, this morning," Kira finally said to break the silence.

Conner lifted his head and gave her an exasperated look. "I knew that. I was there. I paid attention. I just…" he trailed off, resting his chin in his hands. "I guess I just don't get it. I don't know if you've noticed but science isn't my best subject."

"I've noticed," Kira commented. She rolled her eyes, leaning back in her seat. "I don't think you've ever been in danger of winning an academic award."

That certainly was the truth. She had gone to school with him so long, not that he would've even noticed, to know that he could win nearly any athletic competition that came his way but he managed to squeak by with his grades. She remembered something about him nearly having to repeat seventh grade for that very reason, before getting a tutor to help him out.

Conner glared at her. "And I don't see _you_ winning any awards for sports. You're looking at a five start athlete who has a really good chance of going pro in soccer."

"Sure, when pigs fly."

"And I'm on track to getting a good athletic scholarship to go to college," Conner added. He brushed his hair from his face. "That only relies on my ability to play, not on my academic ability. I get it, you're smarter than I am, you don't have to rub it in."

"I'm not rubbing it in, I'm trying to make sure that you don't pull my grade down any further than it should be," Kira shot back. She tucked one of her pigtails behind her ears. "And you can't rely on playing soccer to get you through school. Grades are sort of important in terms of having a scholarship, too. You have to keep a certain GPA right? Or did you not think of that at all?"

Conner lowered his voice as he leaned towards her. Kira couldn't help but look around the room as he did so. She knew they were moving into dangerous territory simply from the tension that moved over them. And if anyone overhead that shouldn't…

Tommy kept his past secret for a reason and they needed to keep it a secret, too.

"Look, I get you don't like me. That's fine. I'm not so happy to be around you, either. But we're a team now and I'm the leader of said team—"

"—That's on a technicality, none of us ever actually voted you to be the leader—"

"—And it doesn't help that you're constantly putting me down every chance you get. I mean, what did I ever do to you?"

Kira blinked at him in surprise. And she stared. She stared at the slightly dopey, slightly confused, slightly determined expression on his face and realized he didn't get it. He really didn't get it. He didn't get that her dislike for him went more than just face value and the fact he didn't seem to take anything in his life seriously. He didn't get that she still hurt from what he had done to her when they were in middle school. But what hurt the most was that he didn't seem to remember it at all. Almost as if she was entirely wiped from his memory.

Instead of laying it all on the line, she leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. "You're right," She replied. "I don't like you. And I said before I don't really think that you should be the leader. But we have to work together to make sure that Mesogog and his band of dino-monsters are taken down."

"Fine," Conner replied. He held up his hands. "I can't believe we were partnered for this project anyway. But as long as we can get through it without biting each other's heads off then we can get out of it sooner." He picked up his science textbook and started to look through it again, though from how quickly Kira saw his eyes moving she knew he wasn't really reading it. "It's a waste, you're not even that cute anyway," he added under his breath.

But Kira heard him perfectly. Her lower jaw dropped before she gritted her teeth, glaring hard at him. She then opened her mouth to say something and heard the sound of her sonic scream coming out of her mouth. Conner immediately slapped his hands over his ears while the other students in study hall all jumped. Some even screamed as they looked around to find where the sound was coming from.

Finally, Kira closed her mouth and the scream stopped. Conner lowered his hands from his hears and glared at Kira, who glared back. Her gaze then shifted over towards his hands and found they were shaking rapidly. She gave him a look and he removed them, stuffing them in his armpits.

The two continued to glare at each other, not noticing that Trent had come to join them until he was standing by their table. He cleared his throat, lightly rapping his knuckles against the table to get their attention.

"Am I interrupting?" he asked tentatively.

"No," Kira and Conner practically spat.

"O…kay." Trent encircled the table and sat down in the seat next to Kira. She immediately dropped her glare and sat up straight in her seat. All of a sudden she was aware of how hot her body was burning, how her shoelaces were untied, how her hair was falling out of its pigtails, how constricting her multiple layers of clothing to get her perfect 'I-don't-care-about-my-clothes-and-neither-should-you' look was. "Did you guys hear that really loud screech right now?"

"You mean the one that sounded like someone who was trying to break glass?" Conner quipped. His smirked faded when Kira reached out and kicked him in the shin.

"Yeah, that one," Trent agreed. He wiggled a finger in his ear. "I think some of the wiring in the PA system is starting to go bad or something. But is it bad that I'm starting to think it's better than listening to Principal Randall's voice?" He smiled a little and then it faded almost instantly. As if he were apologizing for making the joke in the first place. "So, uh, what were you guys doing?"

He started to open his notebook to a blank page so he could take notes. Kira pulled her pigtails behind her ears. "We were just going over the notes from the lesson this morning because _someone_ didn't seem to pay attention at all."

"He moved really fast and I couldn't catch up," Conner defended himself.

"Then it's good that we're going over the notes now. Or else we'd _all_ be falling behind. And we need to have a topic chosen soon." Trent continued to flip past pages in his textbook and something caught Kira's eye. She reached out and grabbed onto a page, turning it over. Trent bit his bottom lip. "Oh, that, I just…that's nothing."

"Nothing? That's amazing!" Kira gently pushed Trent's hands away from the sketch that covered half the page and felt a jolt of…something move up their fingers when their hands came in contact. She turned her head to the side and looked at the sketch of a garden of flowers. The same flowers in front of the school. It looked entirely lifelike, almost as if they were really popping off the page. "I can't believe it, did you draw this?"

"No, he has a stamp," Conner said sarcastically.

Kira was doing a lot of glaring that day and this time she sent another shot towards him. Trent, on the other hand, chuckled and pulled the notebook back towards him. This time he reached out and pressed his palms firmly against the pages. "It's nothing. I just do it for fun. I see something I like and I draw it. Um…" he licked his lips, a movement Kira watched closely. "Can we get back to the project, please?"

"I'm sorry, is this private?"

"It's good of you to ask now."

"Shut _up_ , Conner!"

"Sort of, but I'm glad you guys like it." Trent cleared his throat once more and ducked his head, turning his attention back to their work. He glanced at the textbook Conner had open then pulled out his own to take some notes himself.

For the rest of study hall Kira, Conner, and Trent only spoke when they needed to, otherwise they focused more on recapping what had gone on in class that morning. And throughout the conversation, they only spoke when they needed to speak to each other. Kira was doing her best to avoid having to speak to Conner directly and he seemed to be doing the same to her with Trent stuck in the middle. Trent didn't speak much as it was, whether or not he was shy or he could feel the tension between the two she couldn't be entirely sure.

But it was a God send when the school bell rang, finally signaling it was time for lunch and they could leave. Kira gathered her things together and started to put them away in her backpack, but sighed when a flurry of loose papers dropped out and onto the floor. Kneeling down, Kira started to gather the papers together while Conner picked up his soccer ball from the ground and stuck it under his arm. Trent, on the other hand, knelt down and helped Kira start to get things together.

"Oh, do you write your own songs?" Trent asked, glancing at a sheet that had music notes and lyrics all over it.

"Yeah, every now and then," Kira said modestly. She took the sheet and stuck it in her bag. "I play the guitar and a little bit of the piano, too. I like to get my thoughts out into songs every now and then."

"That takes a lot of talent. Anyone can learn how to draw, how to paint, but being able to play an instrument, being able to write your own songs…that takes talent. I'd like to hear what you've come up with."

"You don't have to ask, she starts singing whenever she gets the chance," Conner said in monotone. "You can't get her to shut up."

"Well I'd still like to hear it some time. Not right now, I have to meet up with some of my other teachers so I can get caught up. But I'd really like to hear things some time. When you have the time, I mean. If you want to." The bell rang again and this time Trent started to back away from Conner and Kira. "I've got to go. I'll see you guys later."

Kira smiled and waved in response. Then she realized what she was doing and stopped waving, disguising it as the movement to run her fingers through her hair. She turned back towards Conner, who was watching her with a smug expression on his face. Kira scowled, her mood instantly ruined by him.

"What?"

"Nothing." Conner held up his hands, taking a step back from her as Kira rolled her eyes and walked by. He fell into step beside her as they headed towards the cafeteria. "I just don't think I've ever seen you like a guy as much as you like Trent."

 _What do you know?_ Kira thought, but made a humming sound.

"What do you like about him anyway? He doesn't look like someone you'd typically go out with."

"That's none of your business. I don't even know him well enough to like him or anything." Kira glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "And besides, how would you know who I would and wouldn't go out with?"

"Uh, because you're a girl and I can read girls better than I can read books," Conner pointed out. As if to prove his point he grinned over at a pretty girl that walked by, who smiled and waved back at him. Kira rolled her eyes. That didn't mean anything, the girl was a cheerleader and she smiled at every one. "So for a girl like you, a guy would need to flatter her a little bit and actually listen to what they have to say. And then things can go on from there. And Trent doesn't seem to be so open to you so…"

"Whatever, Conner. You haven't had a steady girlfriend for at least two years. You don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm a dating machine, I think I _do_."

"What are you arguing about now?" Ethan asked as he and Bailey walked up to their side, backpacks in hand. "If we're supposed to be a team I don't think I can stand watching you two do this all the time." He turned to Bailey, who smiled, as if already knowing what he was going to say. "Can you imagine this happening when we're out on the battlefield?"

"Okay, we at least know not to do it then," Conner pointed out. He placed a hand on the front of his red t-shirt. "I'm the one that's leading everyone into battle, I _think_ I'd know when and when not to argue with someone."

"I mean, unless you actually _like_ fighting with each other," Bailey pointed out. She started to smile and tried to hide it until she was full blown grinning. "I don't know about you, mate, but I'm getting the feeling of some…unresolved tension here."

 _Unresolved tension?_ Kira felt her upper lip curl.

If by unresolved tension she meant how much she hated the guy than she was right. She'd watched Conner move through the school hierarchy in such a linear path with little to no regard of every one he stepped on to get there that it made her sick. Everyone on the sports teams made her sick; they acted like they ruled the school and couldn't do anything wrong. The teachers let them get away with nearly everything. At least until Principal Randall showed up.

She was the one that did everything she was supposed to do, that she lived for and was never taken seriously. Instead the principal dismissed her and placed her into detention where she was now stuck with a massive responsibility and two guys she never thought she would be attributed to.

"Me and her?" Conner asked, motioning between the two of them. "I don't think so. Not happening."

"Or you just hate each other, that's fine, too," Bailey continued. She smiled once more and exchanged a glance with Ethan, who was grinning as well. "Anyway, we heard whispers that your guys' study hall was pretty…loud," she remarked. Her smile faded and she looked around the students who were walking by to be sure none of them were paying attention to them. "You _really_ have to be careful with your powers or else you'll be under a scientist's microscope sooner than you think, yeah?"

"How'd you even know about it anyway?" Conner asked. He and Kira exchanged a glance.

It was an accident; it wasn't like she was doing her best to make sure other people knew how loud she could scream. It was a great weapon against the tyrannodrones but against their classmates? Not so much.

"Cassidy and Devin, who do you think?" Ethan gave them a funny look. "You know, the ones with the video camera permanently glued to their hands? Did you not notice they were there?" Kira didn't pay attention to _anything_ Cassidy did unless it was done right in front of her. So it wasn't like she was purposefully going out of her way to look for the pink princess. Her silence gave him his answer for Ethan said, "Bailey's right, we have to be _really_ careful from now on until we can figure out how to keep our powers under control." He motioned to the long sleeves pulled down over his arms. "Do you think I'm doing this for my health?"

He looked around and pushed back a sleeve to reveal scaly skin underneath, the sort of reaction his body had when protecting himself against Tyrannodrones; based off of the hard skin of the triceratops. "What are we supposed to do then? It's not like I can turn it on and off, it just happens," Conner said. Now he looked bummed.

Kira nodded. "Am I not supposed to talk anymore?"

"Because you wouldn't be able to talk to your precious Trent?" Conner teased.

This time Kira elbowed him hard in the side and grinned when he dropped his soccer ball to grasp his ribs. It had been a hard hit and she was glad it struck. Bailey smiled patiently to the three. "You'll get it," she reassured them. "It always takes some time to figure out new powers, especially ones that manifest like this. You lot will be fine but you'll have to make a more conscious effort with it now."

The conversation topic was dropped as they entered the cafeteria and stood in line to get their food. Kira stood in the back, lightly humming a song to herself as she looked around the cafeteria. At her classmates, people she had known for a long time and people she had grown to distance herself from. No one took her love of music seriously and that became very alienating for those who wanted to go to the mall or hang out with friends all the time rather than listen to music.

Kira's gaze turned towards Cassidy and Devin as the former stomped through the crowd of students in front of her, a death grip on her lunch tray, and Devin bumbling along behind her. He apologized for everyone that was shoved out of their way and scurried to catch up to her. Finally, Cassidy sat down at an empty table and barked for Devin to own as well. Once Devin was settled she grasped his video camera and started to look at the feedback, watching intensely.

Kira shook her head, turning back to the food line in front of her. She tried not to think about it; especially after having pushed the emotions deep in the back of her mind for so long. But it still made her angry.

Because Kira and Cassidy used to be friends they were younger. Best friends. And then Conner came along and they were torn apart.

He didn't remember it.

And Kira had never forgiven him.

* * *

 **A/N:** Thank you all for being so patient with me while you waited on an update. I wanted to finish _These Walls_ before I got back to this story as I was so close to finishing. And then I started the short story _Ready When You Are_ which goes after that for Turbo.

But we've got some background for Kira as well as Conner and Cassidy. This was something I had planned ever since I thought of the idea of a Dino Thunder story (about a year and a half ago now) and I couldn't wait to start bringing it in.

We're got a former ranger coming in the next chapter! I hope you guys are ready for it!

So if you haven't heard the news, I'm working on a Bailey series! The Bailey series will start with Lightspeed Rescue and will be entitled _Headstrong._ So keep a lookout! Here's other news; the reason why Av's and Bailey's pictures are both seen on this story cover is because this story falls within the Bailey series as well. So some things may be a spoiler for that, but not a lot. So far there are other seasons alongside Lightspeed Rescue that I have planned for the Bailey series and you'll have to wait to see what they are. Though I'm not opposed to guesses or suggestions, ;)

 **~Avalon**


	15. Chapter 15: Taking One for the Team

**Chapter 15**

 _Taking One for the Team_

 **A/N:** Just a warning; there is a derogatory slur within this chapter. Not only do I try to keep the original plots of the show but I like to have them be realistic as well. So in a high school setting these words tend to be thrown around, but know that as a person I do not condone the use of the word(s).

* * *

Ethan stretched his arms over his head then went as far as to crack each of his fingers individually before leaning over his computer screen. He looked at the word document and rested his chin in his hand, eyes shifting over the lists in front of him.

The lists he had created when he was sure Tommy was hiding something. He had no idea it was that he was a power ranger, but now he had a feeling it was something else. The story of his past was a bit more rehearsed and sounded like he was trying to put them off more than anything else. Sure, he said he was positive he, Kira, and Conner could take on the responsibilities of being the new team of rangers but…Ethan was smart about these things. There was something else that was being held back.

Now Ethan was smart, there were many ways he could go around finding out what it was. His first thought was to get an idea of his past by looking into his records at Angel Grove High and at MIT. Of course those were blocked out, he anticipated it. However, what the institutions didn't know was that Ethan was a computer whiz and had many tricks up his sleeve that would make even the agents at NASA jealous. But even from there he found nothing but an interesting surge in Tommy's grades. Not only did he start out as a solid B student who received Cs every now and then, but all of a sudden during his senior year of high school he suddenly started to get As left and right while acing everything that came his way. Which wouldn't have been so suspicious if it weren't for the numerous excused and unexcused absences and mentions of skipping classes and events that dotted his report as well.

Even when he was a student at MIT, Tommy aced everything that came his way, giving him the opportunity to graduate early. However he decided to stick around for his last year to continue the research he had started while there. Then he had managed to get in contact with Anton Mercer at a convention and things continued to move on from there until they created the Tyrannodrones. But there was a piece of the puzzle that Ethan still couldn't figure out and it was starting to drive him crazy.

"Come on, I know there's something here," Ethan muttered to himself. His eyes steadily shifted back and forth over the words on the word document. He was so engrossed in what he was doing he didn't notice the soccer ball that was heading right for him.

There was an almighty smack against the back of his head that jolted Ethan forward, causing him to crack his forehead against the keyboard in front of him. He turned around and immediately felt his heart sink deep in his chest when he spotted Derrick Manning standing behind him, laughing victoriously.

"You should've seen the look on your face, dweeb," Derrick taunted. His soccer ball had rolled back to him and he picked it up in his hands. He tossed it back and forth and mimed throwing it towards Ethan once more, causing the blue ranger to flinch. "Ha! Made you flinch!"

"What do you want, Derrick?" Ethan demanded. He felt something warm drip down his face and raised his hand to find blood staining his fingertips. _Great. A bloody nose._ To think he thought he had gotten his fill of those when he was still in elementary school. Derrick had been picking on him long enough but since they had arrived in high school Derrick's bullying had increased ten-fold. "Haven't gotten your fill of Neanderthal behavior done today? And to think it's only ten in the morning."

"What'd you call me, shrimp?" Derrick demanded, walking closer to Ethan. Ethan started to respond but Derrick reached out and grabbed him around the collar of his shirt and lifted him upwards. Ethan started to stammer out a response and Derrick cut him off once more, this time mocking him. "Uh, uh, uh, spit it out, faggot!"

"Excuse me, could you please let him go?" A soft voice pleaded from behind the two. Ethan glanced over Derrick's shoulder to find a tall, thin, Asian looking woman, calmly standing behind them. She had a calm demeanor about her but the intense frown on her face showed she wasn't so pleased by the exhibit of bullying in front of her as well.

"Why don't you mind your own business?" Derrick shot back. Ethan coughed as Derrick tightened his grip around Ethan's collar, cutting the fabric into his throat. "Ethan and I were just talking."

"I'm sure that's all you were doing," The woman said, continuing to use her calm tone. As Ethan watched he couldn't help but be soothed by the calm demeanor the woman continued to exhibit despite the growing anger that flashed through her eyes. "But you seem to be hurting him unless he gets spontaneous nose bleeds. So, again, I ask that you let him go."

Derrick grumbled and released Ethan's collar. "I'll see you later, faggot," he hissed into Ethan's ear. "Don't think that you'll get away with this." He shoved Ethan hard enough that he almost fell out of his seat. Ethan shot out his arm to catch his balance and glanced down as his morpher clacked against the table. What he wouldn't do to be able to morph and take him down.

But he had to keep the secret just as much as he wasn't able to use his powers for his own gain. At least that's what Tommy had warned him, Kira, and Conner when Conner had mentioned he would've become the best soccer player ever seen if he could use his powers of speed. And when Kira said she could use her ptera scream to add some cool sounds to her music recordings.

 _Maybe I could've used some of that to make sure Derrick wasn't able to hurt me so badly,_ Ethan thought, bringing his hand up to stem the blood that continued to flow from his nose. He turned towards the woman and saw her digging through her yellow purse for a tissue. Finding one, she handed it over to Ethan and he held it up to his nose.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

"You're welcome," The woman replied. She gave him a sympathetic smile. "Looks like that guy has been hassling you for a while."

"Almost since he met me," Ethan replied. "It's like my existence in general offends him for some reason." He turned back to his computer and grimaced when he noticed the splatters of blood on the keyboard and table as well.

"I know what you mean, there were these bullies back when I was in high school, they wouldn't leave us alone," she said with a patient smile.

"So what'd you do?" He didn't really believe her. Why would she have gotten so bullied while in school? She was really calm and very nice to people she clearly didn't know. There was no way she was the kind of person that was bullied in high school.

"Eventually they grew up to be really responsible and mature. It wasn't anything that we did specifically, I don't think." She chuckled. "Either that or they were starting to get tired of being embarrassed all the time." She tucked her hair behind her ears. "I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Trini Kwan."

"Ethan James." He started to hold out his hand then brought it back. "I'd shake your hand but I don't want to get any of my shame on you."

"It's no problem, really." She took a step forward and rested her hand on his shoulder. "Just know, guys like that, they're only mean because there's something gin their life that they're trying to make up for. It might not have anything to do with you. He sees you as an easy target. If you stand up to him once he'll leave you alone." Trini thought for a minute. "Why don't you say something to your principal?"

At that suggestion Ethan snorted. "Principal Randall would probably give him a medal and me a detention for complaining. It's not worth it. I'd get my face smashed in," Ethan muttered. He sighed and gathered his things together. "Looks like I'm headed to see the nurse."

"Do you think you could help me find someone before you go? Or at least point me in the right direction." Trini asked. Her calm smile widened a little. "I'm looking for Tommy Oliver but I'm not quite sure where his office is."

"Oh, Dr. O? You know him?" Ethan's eyebrows rose. He took a good look at Trini; taking in her white slacks and yellow blouse complete with matching yellow flats. There was a twinkle in her eye that mimicked the one Zack and Tommy had whenever they were around each other. And her name sounded familiar, too. What was it? "Wait a minute; you said your name is Trini Kwan?"

"Yes, I did."

"Then you know…" he trailed off and approached the topic from a different direction. "Then you were one of the originals."

Now Trini openly laughed as she nodded. "And I'm guessing that piece of jewelry on your wrist isn't a fashion statement." She pulled her purse further up her shoulder. "So, why don't you explain to me what's going on while we go find Tommy. I mean, _Dr._ Oliver."

"Sure!"

Ethan nodded and led Trini out of the room and towards the teacher's lounge. It was lunch time so there was a good chance that's where Tommy was hanging out. Ethan, on the other hand, decided to have lunch in the computer lab as he always had. Derrick and his jerk jock never seemed to try and find him for extra torment. Today must've been a special day.

Ethan kept his voice low as he explained Mesogog, Elsa, Zeltrax, and the Tyrannodrones to the former yellow ranger who listened patiently. "Wow," Trini remarked once the story ended. "And I thought Rita was hard to defeat. This guy sounds like a monster."

"And he looks like one, too," Ethan agreed. He shook his head. "But we only just started with this so who knows what sorts of things this guy has up his sleeve." He arrived at the teacher's lounge and peered inside to find Tommy sitting at an empty table, finishing up a sandwich while he read the newspaper. Ethan reached out and knocked on the door. "Dr. O, I think we found another one of your friends."

Tommy looked up as Trini smiled and waved to him. "Trini! Hey!" He pushed back his seat and crossed the room in a few strides. He grasped Trini in a tight hug, the two rocking back and forth. "I didn't know you were going to be coming so soon."

"I didn't tell you?" Trini asked, taking a step back. "My latest assignment is here in Reefside. I'm going to be staying here for a while and I figured I couldn't come without stopping by to see what the great Tommy Oliver was up to." She turned towards Ethan and winked at him. "It just so happens that I ran into one of your students having some issues with a classmate."

Tommy turned towards Ethan with his eyebrows raised in surprise. But from the way his dark eyes trained on him behind his glasses Ethan knew exactly whom Trini was speaking about. Derrick was in their science class, first period, with Tommy, and he was as much of a pain there as he was to Ethan in general.

"Everything's under control, Dr. O," Ethan reassured him, holding up his hands. "Don't worry about it."

"If you're sure, Ethan."

"I told him how bullies usually only bully because there's something missing in their lives," Trini explained. "And if Ethan stood up to him then he might just stop."

Tommy crossed his arms. "Did that work with Bulk and Skull? Last I checked Jason and I continued to stand up to them and you and Kimberly kept turning them down. That didn't seem to make much of a difference until they started to obsess over finding out the identities of the power rangers."

"What?" Ethan couldn't help but let out an incredulous laugh.

"It's a long story," Trini replied.

"One that you'd be willing to share?" Maybe that'd be the step to get Trini to spill something about Dr. O. Something that would quell his suspicions of the older man. Instead, he received light laughter and a quick brush off.

"How about we save that for another time and you go finish up lunch with the rest of your friends," Tommy suggested.

"What friends?" Ethan shot back.

Tommy gave him a look and he flushed, glad his dark skin hid it so well. He wouldn't say that he and Kira were friends; they were friendly with each other because of their duties as the power rangers. He was getting to know Bailey due to their placement in their advanced classes, being assigned to work on their project together in Dr. O's class, as well as her being their sparring partner. But he wouldn't say he and Conner were friends.

No.

They were from two different worlds; Conner was a jock and Ethan was a brain. More importantly, Derrick was part of the soccer team just as Conner was and as far as Ethan knew, Conner wouldn't defend him against Derrick even if his life depended on it. At the moment he still wasn't' entirely sure why Conner was chosen to be the leader of the team when Ethan certainly had the better qualities for it.

"Right, well, I guess I should get going," Ethan agreed. He cleared his throat and started to back out of the room. "Thanks, Dr. O. It was nice to meet you, Trini."

"It was very nice to meet you, too, Ethan," Trini replied.

Ethan turned on his heel to leave and found himself walking directly into Principal Randall before he could stop himself. He could hear Tommy try and fail to warn him before Ethan managed to jostle her. He grimaced as Elsa turned a glare his way, her upper lip curling in disgust as she did so.

"This is a school not a roller derby rink!" Principal Randall snapped.

"I-I'm sorry, I was just heading out to the cafeteria. I didn't see you coming."

"Yes, well, make sure that you do next time. I don't want to have to dry clean my clothes every day." She cleared her throat, straightened her clothes, and marched over to Tommy without addressing Trini. "I came by to gather some more information on this field trip that you wanted to take our class on."

"Oh, right, the archeological dig. What's the problem?"

Ethan took that chance to slip out of the doorway and head to the cafeteria. As he arrived, he picked up a tray and walked along the line with it. Glancing over his shoulder he watched as the cafeteria continue dot bustle with students as they laughed and talked with each other. But he wasn't worrying about them; he was watching to be sure that Derrick wasn't about to give him another sneak attack. Finally, getting the last of the food from the lunch ladies, not hat Ethan was hungry anyway; he started to make his way through the tables.

Of course there was the cheerleader table with the jock table directly next to him. Ethan watched as Conner joked around with the rest of the soccer team, throwing their soccer balls back and forth as they did so, laughing loudly without a care in the world. As if sensing that he was being watched, Conner looked Ethan's way and their eyes locked. Then he immediately looked away, causing Ethan to shake his head, as if he hadn't noticed Ethan in the first place.

 _Some leader he's turned out to be,_ Ethan thought. He continued his maze through the tables, keeping an eye out for Derrick all the while. Finally, he made it to the table Kira and Bailey were sitting at. Kira's chin rested in her hand and she appeared to be lost in thought while Bailey was smiling at her.

"If you like him so much, then just ask the bloke out," Bailey was saying as Ethan sat down with them.

"Who?" Ethan asked.

"Nobody," Kira said quickly at the same time Bailey replied with, "Trent." Kira glared and shot out her foot, kicking Bailey in the shin as hard as she could. Bailey shirked in pain and grabbed her leg as Kira continued to glare at her. "I don't even know him," she said.

"Well, he's working with you guys on the project, so you can get to know him that way," Ethan pointed out. He picked up his fork and started to poke his food with it. His stomach growled but his continuous glance around for Derrick kept his mind off of it. "I mean, I doubt Conner's doing that much to help you as it is."

"Yeah, no kidding," Kira agreed.

Bailey lifted her head, tearing her attention away from the bruise that rapidly formed on her skin. "He can't be that bad," she reassured them. "So he might have different priorities, but I've known some guys like him. When it comes down to it he'll help out."

"You don't know Conner," Kira reminded her.

Now Bailey shrugged and lowered her leg. "I've seen what he can do on the battle field. If he can lead your guys' team like that, I have faith that he can do a lot of other things that you haven't seen yet. I reckon he just needs the perfect avenue to exhibit those properties."

Now Kira gave Bailey a smug smile. "You seem to have a lot of faith in him, for someone you don't know very well."

Bailey shrugged again, but this time there was a faint blush on her cheeks. "I'm just trying to keep you lot together before you apart. Mesogog, Elsa, and Zeltrax will take you down really fast if you don't work like a team."

"Are you going to start singing _Kumbaya_ by any chance?" Ethan teased.

"I would if I knew the words…and if I could sing," Bailey said.

"Don't look at me," Kira joked. She pushed her empty tray aside. "And anyway, how are we supposed to work as a team if we don't act like one?" She nodded over towards the jock table. "We invited Conner to come sit with us but it seems he has better things to do."

"There's nothing wrong with that when it comes to down to trusting each other. The reason our teams worked, despite our differing personalities and interests, were because we trusted each other and believed in each other's abilities." She paused for a minute, rolling her eyes. "And because they all seemed to be incredibly good at everything they ever tried. Somehow." She shook her head and changed the subject. "So what we need to do is get you guys to trust each other."

"Are you suggesting those lame team building exercises we have to do every time we go do those school wide retreat tings?" Kira smiled. "Because I don't know about you, but I'm starting to get a bit too old to pretend that the floor is lava."

Ethan and Bailey laughed.

"No, I was thinking more like we all get together this weekend and work on our projects. Pull an all-nighter, maybe. I'd suggest we do it at my place but Tommy really likes to have his space to himself. And he said something about him and Hayley spending time this weekend tracking a new Dino Egg they might've found."

"Like the Dino eggs we hatched our raptor riders from?" Ethan repeated. He grinned, rubbing his hands together. "Sounds good to me. I can't wait to see what comes from them this time. Maybe a brontosaurus?"

"What good would a brontosaurus do?" Kira asked. "Don't they just eat leaves off of tall trees?"

"They did much more than that," Bailey commented. She started to count off on her fingers. "Their long tails outweighed their long necks; they were herbivores which meant that more dinosaurs were able to live longer, thus being able to reproduce. Their noses were on top of their heads, which made it easier to tell where there was something coming towards them. They were able to fend off carnivorous dinosaurs with their tails." She waved her hand to show there was more. "Also, they're called Apatosaurus's now."

"Teacher's pet," Ethan teased.

Kira and Bailey laughed and tossed their balled up napkins at him.

"So can we work on our projects at your place?" Bailey asked Kira.

"No can do. My mom is having some guests over and we'll just get in the way. What about you, Ethan?"

"I can't have it at my place either, my parents are remodeling and there'd be enough people coming in and out so we wouldn't be able to get anything done." He shrugged and gestured over towards Conner. "Looks like we're going to have to try with the McKnights."

"I'll ask him" Bailey offered. Resting her arms on the table, she laced her fingers together and rested her chin atop them. "Chances are once he realizes that a group of us are working on them he'll jump at the chance. Especially considering how little he pays attention in class."

"I'll tell Trent the plan then," Kira added.

Ethan smiled and nodded. He glanced over at the jock table once more, grimacing when he noticed Derrick sit down at the jock table and immediately launch into a conversation with his friends. Ethan clenched his hands into fists and took a deep breath to calm himself down.

Then he turned back to Kira, suddenly smiling and said, "You'll never guess who I met today."

* * *

 **A/N:** So now we've got Trini back with the rangers. Honestly, I think its fun to show them with the other rangers before they get to speak with their counterparts (though technically for this team Tommy would be the counterpart of Zack). Also, don't forget that this story follows the TV show plot for a little bit and then goes into my own plot before going back to the TV show plot. We're moving into the original plot but that can't happen until all of the past rangers I need come in.

So not much longer.

Thanks to everyone that has reviewed, alerted, and favorited so far. Even if it takes me some time to update lately you guys keep me going.

I'm really excited for these next few chapters and I hope you guys are, too.

 **~Avalon**


	16. Chapter 16: Beneath The Surface

**Chapter 16**

 _Beneath The Surface  
_

* * *

"Conner, let's go!"

Conner groaned and pressed his face into his pillow, knowing he had only a few seconds before his room was busted open and his step-father would start yelling at him again. What was the point in denying the inevitable? Even if he got up early did all his chores, made breakfast for everyone, and washed the car he would still be treated like a loser with nothing to show for it.

He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling for a moment—festooned with soccer posters as much as the rest of his walls were—before sitting up as his door opened. Conner hesitated for only a moment before he used his enhanced speed to move around the room; gathering his school supplies together and pulled on his clothes. He slowed down just as Michael opened the door and stuck his head inside.

For a moment Conner saw his face twisted up into a glare, ready to tear him a new one, and found Conner standing in the middle of the room watching him.

"Oh." Michael stood up straight, his tense position of being hunched over relaxing as fluidly as flowing water. "You're up. Well, good. Your breakfast is ready and you're going to be late if you don't get going." He turned and left Conner's room, allowing the red ranger to roll his eyes.

Arriving in the kitchen, Conner gave his mother a kiss on the cheek then dropped down into his seat. He looked over at Eric and raised an eyebrow to see how worn out he looked. With bags under his eyes and his hair plastered over his forehead it was as if he was the one running all hours of the night fighting off Tyrannodrones, Zeltrax, and Elsa. It had become such a daily thing he could practically set his watch by it.

"How'd you sleep, honey?" Mrs. McKnight asked. She reached over to ruffle Conner's hair and he leaned out of the way. "You look like you've been tossing and turning."

 _Oh just saving the city, working hard at soccer practice, and trying to find time to do my homework. The usual._ Instead, Conner tucked into his stack of pancakes and shrugged. "Just a lot of homework. Things really are harder this year."

"It's supposed to get harder; it's to test to make sure you're ready for that next step in life," Michael commented. He leaned back in his seat and looked hard at Conner. "Before you know it you'll be playing college soccer and you'll need to keep your grades up to stay on the team."

"I know," Conner grumbled.

He glanced over at Eric, who continued to sit at his spot, staring his plate of pancakes. Every few seconds his head dipped down and jerked back upwards. Seconds away from falling asleep, Conner stuck out his foot and kicked him in the ankle. Eric jolted upwards, nearly upending his plate as he did so.

"I'm awake!" He cried.

"Thank God," Conner joked back.

"Leave your brother alone; he's been having a hard time adjusting back to a normal school," Mrs. McKnight said. She looked back and forth from her husband to Conner to Eric. Her eye movements were sharp, jerky, as if waiting for the one word or phrase that would start off World War III.

"You never should've let him go to that school in the first place," Michael commented. He cleared his throat before sucking down half of his plate within seconds. "Who thinks they can become a ninja through that kind of schooling? A strong educational foundation is what these boys need."

"Whatever," Eric muttered.

Conner rolled his eyes. If he had said that back to Michael he wouldn't received a strong slap to the back of the head or some sort of physical labor around the house to make up for it. He always did seem to get the short end of the stick in terms of what could and couldn't be done around their step-father.

"Oh, mom, could you sign this permission slip?" Conner reached into his backpack and pulled out a slip of paper. He passed it across the table to his mother. "We're going to do an archaeological dig sort of thing and they want to make sure that you won't sue the school if we die."

"You know all of the dinosaurs are dead, right?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, we kind of got the point when they found the fossils." He sucked in a deep breath when he felt Michael's eyes swivel towards him in a glare. "Can you sign it, please? I have to get to school?"

"Conner, this permission slip is for today," Mrs. McKnight said in exasperation. "Why didn't you say anything sooner?"

"I guess I forgot. C'mon, mom, I have to get going. I won't bring a soccer ball, we won't play tag, and I'll make sure to look where I'm going so I don't step on anymore fossils or fall into a hole. Please? I need to go somewhere before school and I'm going to be late."

"Fine, fine." Mrs. McKnight quickly scribbled her signature down onto the dotted line at the bottom of the slip. "But we need to talk about your organization skills when you get home."

"You want to talk about _my_ organization skills when you have a son who just sits around all day wondering whether or not he's going to actually go back to school? That's great." Conner grabbed the permission slip from his mother's hand and grabbed his backpack off the floor. "Bye guys!"

He hurried from the house as quickly as he could knowing Michael was only a few moments away from yelling at him for springing the field trip on them at the last minute. Conner climbed into the driver's seat and took his time fishing through the radio stations to find some music to listen to. As he did so his thoughts drifted to meeting Trini, the original yellow ranger.

She was very patient with all of the questions the rangers sent their way and even went as far as to spar with them when she got the chance. That was the best part and it made Conner fell incredibly insecure all the same. Much like Dr. Oliver, Zack, and Avalon had done, she beat them fairly easily and quickly. And that was when Dr. Oliver had admitted that Trini had become a grand master in the praying mantis style of Kung Fu as well as owned her own martial arts gym back in Angel Grove. At his, Ethan's, and Kira's grumblings of being unfair Trini agreed to teach them some of what she knew.

His muscles still screamed in pain while he reached for his seatbelt and pulled it across his body. He had only just started to pull out of the driveway when his phone buzzed with a text. Pursing his lips, he continued to back out of the driveway, briefly glancing over his shoulder to be sure he didn't hit any other cars, then headed in the direction of school.

Reaching into the cup holder he pulled out his phone and glanced from the screen to the road repeatedly to read the text. His eyes did another rotation when he saw the message Kira had sent him.

 **Kira:** Are you coming or what? You're late

He slowly typed out a response with his thumb, still moving his eyes back and forth from his phone to the road. **Conner:** I'm on my way now. Geez, don't be so impatient. It's just a stupid project.

 **Kira:** A project that I'm not going to do all the work on.

 **Conner:** Don't you have Trent to help you with this, too? You can't blame it all on me.

 **Kira:** I can when you're the only one that's late and doesn't pull his weight around.

 **Conner:** Whatever. I'm almost there.

He tossed his phone back into the cup holder and let out a low breath, tightening his grip on the steering wheel. He already had to deal with being treated like a low-class citizen at home; he didn't need it at school, too.

Especially form a girl that used to be one of his best friends.

.

..

...

Tommy glanced towards the ceiling as the bell rang, signaling the start of the school day and smiled. "Alright, there's only so much work you can do in the classroom .Who's ready for some field work?" His smile widened when he caught the excited expressions on some of his students' faces. This looked like it was going to be a good trip after all.

Then he spotted Cassidy and Devin pushing their way to the front of the room and he steeled himself. Ready for whatever crazy thing they were going to ask him this time. So far they already interrupted homeroom and his class with enough crazy questions that he could set his watch by it.

 _What do they need now?_ Nevertheless, Tommy waited patiently for their request. "Dr. Oliver, may we have permission to film today's dig for journalism class? It's just that it would be good for my career if I focused on more exciting things like nature and science."

"Uh, but Cass, I thought you said that this stuff was as dull as dirt," Devin commented.

Tommy smiled and tried to stifle his laughter when he noticed Cassidy's face blanch at the comment. She then smile nervously, pulling her long braid over her shoulder, stroking the ends nervously. All the while, Devin smiled as if he had just helped remind her of a test she may have forgotten.

"Uh, I believe I was speaking about our _last_ conversation."

"Relax, Cassidy, you can film the dig." He shook his head as Cassidy clasped her hands together before motioning Devin to follow her out of the room. Then he picked up his briefcase and turned around to face Avalon, who stood quietly in the corner, watching the students walk by her with a raised eyebrow.

"Did we look so small when we were in high school?" She asked.

"Av, you're only five feet tall, you're _always_ small," Tommy shot back.

"Ha ha."

"So are you ready to go?"

Avalon nodded, pulling on a baseball cap over her long hair before pulling a drawstring bag onto her back. "How did you talk me into being your teaching assistant for this trip, again?"

"Because I needed another chaperone," Tommy explained. He cleared his throat, holding his briefcase in front of him. "And you're the only one I could find on short notice especially since Hayley has to run the café, Zack's still not comfortable being out in public and Trini only just got here. I couldn't ask her to go."

"Sure you could, mate, you just didn't," Avalon said simply.

"You're acting like you don't like kids."

"I love kids. But these guys aren't kids, they're teenagers. And they can be the most vapid, annoying, whingey, dramatic…" Avalon trailed off as she scratched the back of her head. "Were we really like that when were in high school?" She didn't give Tommy the chance to answer. "I seem to remember that when we weren't fighting evil monsters that you lot were continuously doing every activity and event under the sun to promote a healthy environment."

Tommy smirked back at her. "You seem to have caused enough drama in our lives as soon as you came around."

"And your life got much more interesting with me around, admit it." The two laughed and Avalon pulled her loose hair around her shoulders. "Speaking of, it's great that Trini and Zack are around now. They were so excited to see each other, it's been so long."

"Yeah, that's what Trini was saying. Apparently we were the first ones that Zack told about why he was gone and everything. I guess he might've been a bit embarrassed." Tommy paused for a long moment, his mind suddenly whirring. "It's just…kind of funny that first Zack comes to Reefside and now Trini. It's like there's a little reunion happening." Tommy stopped and looked over at Avalon, eyes narrowing behind his glasses. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you?'

"About them all suddenly coming to see you? Me?" Avalon placed a hand on her chest and widened her eyes innocently. Then she dropped her façade and crossed her arms over her chest. "No. I have absolutely no idea why these guys are here."

Tommy gave her a look. "Really?"

"Really. But all the same…it hasn't been that long since they passed you know. Maybe they're coming to see how you're doing. You didn't want any of them at the funeral so…" She watched as Tommy looked away from her, bringing a hand up to rub his chin.

A lump formed in Tommy's throat as his gaze lowered to his feet. He hadn't thought of his parents in a while. His school work and being and mentoring the new team of rangers had taken up a lot of his time. Time he was glad wasn't spent dwelling on his parents. He didn't want to think about them being on their way to see him, how that drunk driver had managed to tear apart his family, or how utterly alone he felt while at the funeral. It really _hadn't_ been so long since the funeral. But knowing that he couldn't pick up the phone to see how their day was, to have dinner with them every Sunday, to let them know things were going okay…

That hurt worse than any pain he had ever felt before.

"And besides, time has made it so that we haven't seen each other in a long time. Whatever the reason I think it's good to see them."

"So do I," Tommy agreed. "I just…I just can't help but think that…" he trailed off and smiled once more. "It's nothing. Let's go and have a great time. I swear it's not as lame as you and Bailey seem to think I make it out to be."

"We'll see about that."

Tommy laughed once more and turned to leave the classroom, stopping short when he spotted Principal Randall standing in the doorway, holding a shovel over her shoulder. "Principal Randall?" He looked her up and down. She was dressed to the nines in safari gear, as if ready to go hunting for fossils herself. The intense look she trained on him didn't ease his troubles at all.

"Dr. Oliver," she replied, stepping into the room. Then her eyes shifted over to Avalon. "You," She commented.

Avalon made a face.

"I'm here to go on the field trip with you. I heard you were in need of more chaperones." Principal Randall's eyes widened slightly, increasing the intense stare turned Tommy's way. "I figured I would lend my hands to help."

"I—I, well, I didn't realize you were interested in dinosaur bones."

Principal Randall's eyebrow rose and she took another step towards Tommy. This time she looked him up and down with her penetrating gaze. "You'd be surprised what interests me, Dr. Oliver," she practically purred.

Tommy frowned.

Avalon smiled, "I'm sure we wouldn't," she commented. Her laughter immediately ceased when Principal Randall turned a glare her way.

Hoping to diffuse the tension that fell over the room Tommy waved an arm towards the door. "The bus is right outside. Let's get going before the students create some sort of a coup and hijack the bus down to the local amusement park."

"I can guarantee you there will be no such shenanigans while I'm on this trip," Principal Randall said. She then motioned towards Tommy with her shovel. "And on the way, you can dazzle me with fascinating fossil facts."

Tommy managed a smile, his lips pulling back over his gritted teeth.

.

..

...

Conner smiled as he pulled away from the cheerleader he had just been kissing, noticing the bus was coming to a stop. She smiled at him and quickly fluffed her hair before fixing up her makeup. They waited patiently at the back of the bus before the students disembarked and were put into groups—the same groups assigned for their projects—to start digging.

"I'll see you later, Conner."

"See ya." Conner sighed wistfully as he moved to join up with Ethan, Kira, and Bailey. He placed his hand on Ethan's shoulder. "See, _that's_ the kind of girl you could have if you pulled your head out of the computer for five seconds."

"An airhead that doesn't have a clue?" Kira guessed.

"Well, you don't need to do much talking when you can be kissing so…" Conner ran a hand through is hair, then looked around. "Did Trent really not show up for this either? There's something strange about that guy. He moves to Reefside at a strange time of the year, is always late to class, always has an excuse to leave early, and is really secretive."

"Right and he's just running around masquerading as a power ranger," Bailey teased him. Conner gave her a look and she chuckled. "Mate, he's new. He's come to a new school in a new city he hasn't been to before. It's hard to get adjusted."

"You seem to have adjusted pretty well," Ethan pointed out.

"Yeah, well, being the little sister of Tommy and Avalon tends to do that," Bailey remarked with a light roll of her eyes. "If you knew Tommy when we were back in Angel Grove you'd know that he was into doing anything and everything good. Avalon did anything and everything bad. They're like my conscious but they don't go away. Out of the three I'm the most sane, yeah?"

"Considering you haven't come dressed like _that_." Kira pointed over to Principal Randall and Dr. Oliver, laughing as she took in their outfits, also noticing how excited they got with Tommy having found something. "I'd like to think that you're fine. Come on; let's start digging before Principal Randall starts watching us like a hawk."

The group walked over to an empty space of dirt that hadn't been taken over by their classmates and started to dig through the ground. Conner took a small spade shovel and started to move dirt aside. It was a menial task, his mind wandering as he continued the forward and back movements of digging through the dirt and tossing it aside.

Over and over.

Scoop, dump, pile.

Scoop, dump, pile.

It didn't help that he and Kira weren't talking at all. After having met up before class started where she made yet another excuse for Trent not being there, it didn't start the day very well. They couldn't to scoop their dirt back and forth before he was suddenly hit on the arm with a clump of dirt.

"Hey!" he tossed a shovelful back at her.

Kira let out a cry of surprise and turned to face him. "What was that for?" She tossed some more at him, to which he quickly returned.

"You threw it on me, first!"

"You know what your problem is? You haven't matured past the third grade."

"Oh and acting like Miss. Doom and Gloom is mature?"

Kira glared and he glared back at her. She tossed down her shovel to the ground and crossed her arms. "And making out in the back of the bus on the way to a school trip is mature?"

"Well at least someone _wants_ to kiss me."

Bailey stood up and let out a loud groan. "Will you guys knock it off? This is _really_ starting to get old! Apparently you lot don't pay much attention when someone is bloody trying to tell you that you're wrong and you're just hurting yourselves. The more you fight like this the more it's going to spill over into protecting this city!"

"He started it!""She started it!"

"Like Mesogog cares about that!"

"I'm sure he'll care about this," Ethan said. Something in his voice made the others turn towards him. He was on his hands and knees, frantically digging through the ground. Bailey immediately was at his side, plunging her hands into the dirt and sifting through it as well. Conner started to ask what they were looking at then noticed a bright green glow coming through the dirt.

He tilted his head to the side, eyes squinting. "That looks like a—"

"—A dino egg," Kira broke in. She looked at it for a minute then started to back away. "Hey, I'll go tell Dr. Oliver. This definitely looks like something he and Avalon would need to know about." She turned on her heel and raced across the excavation site.

Conner kneeled down with the others and pulled loose dirt and rocks out of the way of the egg. Ethan reached into the hole and pulled out the egg. Turning it over in his hands he squinted, examining it closely. "I wonder which one this one is going to be."

"Do you know any dinosaurs that are green, mate?" Bailey teased.

"Do _you_ know of any Tyrannosaurses that are _red_?" He replied with a smile, causing her to smile and laugh.

Tommy and Avalon hurried over to take a look at the egg. Ethan carefully stood up and handed it over to them. "Yeah, looks like a Dinozord Egg to me," Avalon remarked as Tommy turned it this way and that, squinting behind his glasses. "Looks just like the ones the Raptor Riders came in. What do you think bro?"

"Uh—"

"Ooh, what a discovery!" Principal Randall called as she scurried up to the group. Conner whipped around, trying to hide the egg, but moved too slow. She already had her wide eyes set upon it. "What is it?"

"Uh, we're not sure," Tommy said slowly.

"It looks like a prehistoric egg. May I look at it?" Principal Randall held her hands out towards the egg, but Tommy held it close to his chest. "I promise I won't drop it."

"You can't!" Conner broke in. He bit his lower lip as Principal Randall turned his way, eyebrow raised. "I mean, look at its color! It's obviously radioactive. We must've put ourselves in a lot of danger already as it is. We can't let you touch it…?" He turned towards the others, who were looking at him strangely, save for Bailey who was nodding encouragingly. "I mean, we all have these protective gloves and you don't have anything to make sure nothing happens to you."

Slowly pulling her hands back, Principal Randall narrowed her eyes at him. "I guess you're right," she agreed. "Well, anything else you find that's _not_ a health risk be sure to show it to me."

"No worries Principal Randall," Avalon replied with a warm, almost malicious smile. "We'll be sure to do that."

The second Principal Randall turned away and started to leave just as a horde of Tyrannodrones teleported down from an invisiportal and swarmed the excavation site. Conner stared in horror as his classmates all screamed and started running away from the monsters.

Conner glanced at Tommy, who nodded at him. Conner nodded back and motioned for Kira and Ethan to follow him. The three started to run to find a place that was secluded enough for them to morph.

"And you thought this field trip was going to be boring," Ethan commented as they ran.

"Last time I'll make that complaint," Conner said as they kept running.

"How about more running and less talking," Kira piped up.

The three finally came to a secluded area and looked around. Conner nodded at the two. "You guys ready?"

"Ready!"

"Dino Thunder, power up! Ha!"

* * *

 **A/N:** So who do you think will be the next OG ranger that'll pop up? Jason, Kimberly, or Billy? Either one of the three will cause some drama for the rangers once they come in. Showing that as well as Conner's, Kira's, Ethan's, Bailey's, and Trent's all nighter should be very interesting.

Thanks for being patient guys and I'll update again soon.

 **~Avalon**


	17. Chapter 17: Coming Together

**Chapter 17**

 _Coming Together_

* * *

Kira, Conner, and Ethan morphed and immediately raced back into the fighting field while their classmates raced to get to safety. Tommy, Avalon, and Bailey were already fighting the tyrannodrones with Tommy protecting Principal Randall the best he could.

Kira jumped into an attack, easily taking down the tyrannodrones that came her way. Swooping her arms around, mimicking the pterodactyl, she continued to fight as hard as she could. The tyrannodrones continued to come in waves, striking harder and faster than they ever had before. She did her best to keep her mind off it, instead focusing on protecting the dino zord egg they had found. All around them was a flurry of movement but she continued to take down as many tyrannodrones as she could.

It'd be a lie if she said she wasn't picturing Conner on a few of them, being sure to attack them as hard as possible. Just so she was able to work off some of her anger. Kira was smiling all the while she fought.

Ethan and Conner had similar tactics in terms of fighting the tyrannodrones in front of them, picturing someone else to strike as hard as they cold and with as much precision as possible. Ethan focused his attacks on Derek while Conner thought about his step-father. Finally, the tyrannodrones seemed to get the picture and disappeared as quickly as they came. Then the rangers quickly raced away and demorphed so not to bring attention to themselves.

Then they hurried back to their teacher. "Is everyone okay?" Conner asked once they arrived.

"Everyone's fine," Avalon replied quickly. "Everyone _here_ is fine anyway. I reckon the others are at the bus scared out of their wits, yeah?" Beside her, Bailey nodded in agreement.

"Is the egg okay?" Ethan added.

"Yeah, I got it right here." Tommy held it out to show them, turning it in his hands. "Unfortunately, I think we should head back to the school before any more of them decide to show up." He turned to Principal Randall who stood by the group, glaring into space. He reached out and gently touched her shoulder, causing her to jump. "Are you sure you're okay, Principal Randall?" He asked.

"Yes, other than being thrown around like a rag doll," She replied, smoothing down her clothes. Then she turned and eyed Tommy warily. "I guess I do owe you a thank you of some sort. Who knows what those… _things_ would've done to me." She sucked in a deep breath and everyone waited for her to properly thank Tommy but she turned on her heel and walked away.

"Wow, you lot weren't kidding when you said she was a autocrat," Bailey spoke up. All eyes turned to her and she rolled her eyes. "A tyrant," She explained. "A dictator. A nut job. Use whatever word choice you like."

Tommy laughed a little. "Come on, let's go to the bus."

"What about the field trip?" Ethan asked. Now all eyes turned to him and he shrugged defensively. "What? We were actually looking around for dinosaur bones and fossils. I think that's a great reason to have a day off of school."

"We already had the permission slips signed and because you're all seniors you can sign out for the rest of the day." Tommy smiled as Conner and Kira both cheered, able to put aside their differences for at least something that day, while Ethan and Bailey looked a little disappointed. "I thought that would make you happy."

Once arriving back at school the rangers quickly signed themselves out and went to Tommy's place to get a reading on the dino egg. Hayley was already there, scanning the Reefside area for any more activity and helped set up the machine to do the reading. She stood off to the side, staring hard at the egg as the machine went to work.

"And you found this in a random dig site you were using for your field trip?" Hayley asked.

"Well, that may have been a bit of an influence on my part," Tommy admitted.

"Yes, I should've known. You might not be a rocket scientist but you are pretty good at getting things to go your way." Hayley smiled as Tommy turned her way with a raised eyebrow. "I'm just saying that working on group projects with you sometimes wasn't so fun."

"You're only _just_ figuring that one out?" Zack remarked from the corner of the room where he was bouncing back and forth from foot to foot. "At least when we were working with him in high school he was dumb so we could just sit back and tell him what to do. Now that he's smart he takes the reins on everything."

Tired of being attacked, Tommy rolled his eyes. "It's not my fault that I had leadership qualities that have been instilled in me upon my martial arts training and I like to use them sometimes." He turned back to Zack. "You didn't have any complaints when I was leading you guys."

"First one to the fight gets beaten more, I was glad for you to take the initiative on that one, man."

Tommy and Zack laughed.

"So what's going on with Trini?" Kira asked. She gently kicked at the ground, crossing her arms. She kept her gaze on the egg sitting in the middle of the laboratory. "I figured she would've been here to check everything out."

"She had some things she needed to take care of. But she should be by later," Avalon explained. "Sorry you weren't able to meet her when she stopped by the first time. If we knew she was going to be here we would've made sure to introduce you." She exchanged a glance with Tommy and turned back to the egg. "Maybe being able to meet more of our team will put this stuff in perspective and stop fighting with each other."

"I've seen that happen enough because of the influence of monsters," Zack added. "Fighting amongst the team will _always_ come back to bite your ass."

Tommy muttered in response but didn't say anything. Then he noticed the expression on Ethan's face as he looked at the reader in his hand. "What's going on, Ethan?"

"I'm not getting any reading of life from this thing," he explained.

"That's weird," Tommy said. He reached out his hand and Ethan slapped the reader into his palm. He took his turn waving it up and down beside the egg. Again nothing showed on screen that would've indicated there indeed was life within it. "I _know_ this is a Dimetrozord egg."

"Dimetrozord?" Conner repeated.

"It's developed form a Dimetrodon. A dinosaur that lived in the Permian period; it has the long spine son its bag that sort of created the shape of a fan or a boat's sail," Bailey explained.

"No wonder those tyrannodrones wanted it," Kira remarked.

Hayley rubbed her chin for a moment then dropped her arms to her sides. "I'll look over the excavation site again. Maybe there's a clue there that will tell us what's going on with this thing." She turned and sat down at her computer, starting up a scanning program. It took only a few minutes before it started to beep wildly. "That's weird, it says here that there's a heat signature still coming from the dig site."

"How's that possible, the egg's right here," Kira pointed out. She went as far as to reach out and tap it, quickly bringing her finger back in case it would suddenly crack open.

"Well don't do that," Conner cried. "It might split open or something."

"It's not like breakfast, Conner. There's an actual dinosaur in there. I think."

"Maybe there's another one out there, then," Ethan suggested.

Hayley turned around in her seat and looked at Tommy, who looked back at her. His eyes shifted for a minute and he finally made up his mind. "I'm going to go down to the site to see what's going on. You guys stay here in case this thing is actually going to open."

"I'll come with you," Avalon said. Tommy started to protest and she turned towards him with a raised eyebrow. "I'm supposed to be a chaperone today, remember? Knowing you, I think you need to be watched, too."

"Ha ha."

Tommy reached out and grasped Avalon's wrist then teleported out of the base.

The two arrived at the site and looked around. Everything was still the way they had left it. Random pick-axes and shovels littered the ground and footprints of the students and the workers of the site were still in their places in the mud.

"Let's check where we found the egg in the first place. Maybe there'll be some clues over there, yeah?" Avalon pointed out. Tommy nodded and the two headed in that direction. As soon as they arrived an invisiportal opened and Zeltrax landed in front of them.

He slowly stood up from his crouch and stared at the two. Tommy shook his head. "Zeltrax, I knew I smelled something," he growled.

"I believe that would be your imminent demise," Zeltrax growled in reply.

"Get out of the way. We have something important to do," Avalon shot back. Her eyebrows rose as Zeltrax continued to stand in front of them, slowly pulling out his sword. She then looked over at Tommy, who tilted his head as he watched Zeltrax.

"Okay, I guess I have some time to spare." Tommy pressed his fingers against the black dino gem in his bracelet and it transformed into the head of his morpher. "Dino Thunder, Power up!" He morphed into the Black Dino Thunder ranger and pulled out his bracchio staff. He turned to Avalon. "You ready for this?"

"Just because I can't morph doesn't mean I'm not going to let you guys have all the fun," Avalon replied.

With that the two became locked in battle with Zeltrax. Around and around they went throwing punches, throwing kicks, and swinging their weapons. When there was an open spot for her to be attacked, Avalon would fly in with strong punches and kicks of her own that'd knock Zeltrax back far enough so that Tommy had plenty of time and space to run in and get another swing on him.

Zeltrax finally got angry enough to tryout a new attack on them. Pulling back his hand, he thrust it forward and sent out a blast of blue energy towards Tommy and Avalon. The two turned and leapt aside as the blast crashed into the tree behind them. A burning hole appeared in the middle of the trunk and smoldered for a few seconds before the tree keeled over and crashed to the ground, causing it to shake under their feet.

"I reckon this guy isn't going to give up anytime soon," Avalon remarked. She brushed her hair out of her face and removed the sweat from her forehead. "We've gone up against some other guys like this before but he really seems to have something against you."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Tommy replied. "But I can't imagine what that would be."

With that the two got back to their feet and raced into the fight once more. Avalon charged forward and jumped high, kicking Zeltrax in the face. As she landed on the ground, Zeltrax grabbed onto her foot and flipped her towards the trees behind her. The world spun around her as she flew backwards. She stuck out her feet and pressed them against the tree trunk behind her and used it as a springboard to launch herself to him once more. She landed a few strong hits on him and backed away so that Tommy had space once more.

Tommy raced into the fight, bracchio staff high over his head and raced towards Zeltrax, who swung his blade in an arch, twisting out of the way at the same time. The two weapons clashed, the force of the blow sending them apart. Zeltrax then sent another charge of blue energy towards him. This time it connected and sent Tommy flying back to the ground a few feet away from Zeltrax.

"Tommy!" Avalon cried.

Zeltrax brought up his hand and moved to send out another blast but Tommy blocked the blast his bracchio staff; tilting the hilt so the energy shot out in a different direction. Then he attacked back, "Bracchio Staff, wind strike!"

A large gust of wind twisted and twirled out of his staff and struck Zeltrax. The force of the wind knocked the monster off his feet and he tumbled heels over head across the grass. As he lay sprawled out on the ground, an invisiportal opened up once more, taking him up into the sky.

Dismayed, Tommy watched him leave then got back to his feet. He shook his head and brought up his arms in a criss-cross pattern. "Power down!" He demorphed and looked out in the field in front of them. "What was that all about?"

"It didn't seem like a normal attack to me, if that's what you mean," Avalon replied. She ran a hand through her hair. "He wouldn't have gone back into the invisiportal if this was normal. Not unless it was an aggro beat down."

"I agree. He was probably pulled back to Mesogog's lair. That can't be a good thing, either. There must be another plan they have that we're not figuring out." A lightbulb went off in his head and Avalon immediately turned to look at each other before racing off in the direction the heat signatures had come from before.

Kneeling down in the grass, Tommy picked up the leftover pieces of a dino zord egg. He showed them to Avalon then examined them further. They were still warm; whatever was inside it hadn't hatched long before.

"Houston, we have a problem," Avalon remarked.

"More like Reefside has a problem. If we don't find this dinozord soon the entire city could be destroyed. And this dinozord has even more destructive power than the Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, and Pteradactyl zords combined."

"How do you figure?"

"Hopefully you don't find out. Let's get back to the lab."

Tommy and Avalon teleported back and hurried to explain what happened. "Guys, we have a problem."

"You mean including or excluding the dino zord rampaging through Little Tokyo?" Conner asked, pointing to the screen behind them. The two turned around and watched as the aqua colored zord raced through the streets, using the spines on its back as a saw to cut through buildings."

"Okay, you might have a point," Avalon said, scratching the side of her head.

"This zord is definitely using its special talents to its advantage," Hayley communicated, typing rapidly at her computer keyboard. "So far he's sticking with Little Tokyo but considering its an obvious ploy from Elsa and Mesogog to use the zord for their own gain. You better get down there."

"Ready?" Conner asked.

"Ready," Kira and Ethan replied.

"Dino Thunder, Power up, Ha!"

"Tyranno!"

"Ptera!"

"Tricera!"

The rangers teleported down to Little Tokyo and summoned their zords to stop the Dimetrozord in its tracks. But it quickly fought back with the spinning saw on its back, thwarting any attempts for the rangers' zords to get any closer. The Tyranno Zord moved in and the two zords started to snap their jaws at each other, large teeth clanking together. Then the Dimetrozord started its saw once more and the Tyrannozord turned around, using its tail as a drill to counterattack the blow.

Then the Dimetrozord charged forward and struck the Tyrannozord so hard it dropped to the ground, sparks coming from its tail.

"Oh no!" Conner cried in dismay.

The Tyrannozord struggled to get up as the Dimetrozord turned its saw on once more and dug underground, the tremors making the rangers struggle to stay up. Making it ten times worse was the addition of a monster that suddenly appeared over the top of the trees.

"Looks like Mesogog is really testing us this time," Kira said with a sigh. She brought her hand up to the side of her helmet and shook her head. "You think they would give us a break sometime."

"Just gives us some time to actually work together as a team, right?" Ethan pointed out. He turned to Conner and Kira, clenching his hand into a fist. "We can't let our own arguments and issues get in the way of our duty to save the world. Or just to save our city, if this zord gets any further out of it this monster gets too far our families and friends are in danger, too."

Conner nodded. "Dinozords now!"

The Tyrannozord pulled itself off the ground and fell instep alongside the Tricera and Ptera zords started racing towards the monster. Then they came together to form the Thundersaurus Megazord and Conner, Kira, and Ethan leapt inside the cockpit.

"Do it, Kira!" Conner cried.

"Pterarang!" Kira said. She pressed her hand onto the yellow globe in front of her and the Thundersaurus Megazord threw a boomerang shaped as a pterodactyl wing that shot towards the monster, but it quickly knocked it out of the way.

"What?!"

"Tricera fist!" Ethan tried his turn. The right fist of the Thundersaurus Megazord struck the monster but left an opening for the monster to hit them right in the face.

"Hang on guys," Bailey called to them from the lab.

"You lot need to back away and give yourself some space," Avalon added. "The shield this monster has is too strong; you need something that will break through it. Like a blade or a saw."

"Then they need to get the Dimetrozord," Hayley declared. "I think Tommy can handle that one. It's going to need a master and I think he's the right guy to handle that job."

As if on cue the DImetrozord appeared out of the ground in a burst of energy and went flying into the Thundersaurus Megazord over and over saw first. The Thundersaurus Megazord continued to flail back and forth, the rangers crying out in pain as they were flung around the cockpit of the Thundersaurus Megazord.

"Dr. O, we could use your help here," Conner cried, grabbing onto his sphere to support himself.

"Hang in there guys!"

The Dimetrozord roared loudly as the monster stomped over to the rangers and continued to smash the zords on the back of the head. Suddenly, the Dimetrozord roared loudly and attacked the monster. "He's all your guys!" Tommy cried happily. "And wait until you see what he can do."

The Dimetrozord attached itself to the Thundersaurus Megazord and the rangers struck it forward into the face of the monster. "Dimetroblade, full power!" The rangers cried, striking the monster once more, with a charged up attack, causing the monster to explode in a flurry of flames and sparks.

"Yeah!" Kira cheered, punching the air.

"He's out of there!" Ethan added.

"That's how you work as a team! Great job, guys!" Conner congratulated the two of them. "Let's get back."

* * *

Zeltrax turned to face Mesogog as he sat quietly in his throne. They waited for Elsa to show up after her defeat with the rangers. He clenched his hands into fists and took a deep breath. Then he moved forward and kneeled on the floor, bowing his head. Anything to show he was in allegiance towards the creature that stood in front of him.

"Lord Mesogog, I was seconds away from destroying the black ranger for you," he said. He continued to keep his head down waiting for orders to lift it once more. Mesogog was so angry he would probably keep him permanently knelt like that.

"It didn't look that way to me," Mesogog hissed. His fingers twitched on the arms of his throne. His yellow-lizard like eyes bored into Zeltrax with disdain. "It looked like he was getting the best of you. Next time you battle I would suggest you leave your petty jealousy to of it"

Anger flared through Zeltrax. It rushed with the intensity of a tidal wave and immediately took him over. He was _not_ jealous. He simply wanted to prove to his master he could do what was needed of him. "Jealousy? But I—"

"We'll discuss your punishment later." Mesogog looked over as Elsa arrived in the room, head down, subdued. Mesogog merely glanced over her for a moment then started to speak while simultaneously using his psychic powers to create intense pain in their minds. Mesogog and Elsa fell to the ground, clutching their heads. "The rangers have another Dino Zord in their hands. I don't know which of you to punish first."

"Punish me my lord," Zeltrax managed to growl out. He grasped the sides of his head as hard as he could. "I have failed you the most." Maybe that would prove how loyal he was to their plan. To show he needed to be used more often. He had nothing but Mesogog and destroying the world in mind.

"It's true. At least I made valuable progress in my plan to gain Oliver's trust," Elsa quickly added.

"So you did, but your work is not finished yet. I want you to stay close to him. He's your link to the other three," Mesogog hissed. He finally let go of the torture on his two henchmen and narrowed his eyes. "Now get out of my sight."

Zeltrax's body slumped with relief when Mesogog let go of his torture. He got to his feet and bowed towards him once more before leaving the room. He stumbled through the halls of the lair, heading back to his quarters then stopped in his tracks, falling to his knees as a harsh pain spread through his chest.

It continued to burn, spreading and spreading until it filled his entire body. Zeltrax screamed before succumbing to his reversion.

Then the pain subsided.

Billy Cranston continued to keep his hand to his chest as he caught his breath.

* * *

 **A/N:** It took me a bit longer to get back to updating but I'm back! What did you guys think?

Also, for those of you who like the Tyler/Shelby pairing from Dino Charge/Dino Super Charge check out the one-shot I put up called 'Taking Credit'.

Thanks!

 **~Avalon**


	18. Chapter 18: The All-Nighter (1)

**Chapter 18**

 _The All-Nighter (1)_

* * *

Bailey ran a brush through her hair a few times before gently setting it on the dresser in front of her. Then she leaned into the mirror and ran her fingers through her hair, making sure each piece fell into place. She frowned, wrinkling her nose a few times, as a few didn't cooperate.

Then she sighed heavily and pulled her long hair behind her shoulders, then swung it forward once more. Satisfied, she leaned forward into the mirror once more and made sure her mascara and eye shadow looked okay behind her glasses. Then she wrinkled her nose once more before taking them off to change into her contacts.

Her eyes watered as she put them in, not completely used to the new brand yet but at least she'd be able to see. Actually, she contemplated using them more in case of more attacks from the Tyrannodrones, but didn't want to risk going blind while in the middle of a battle. Finally, she stood back and smoothed down her jean skirt to make sure there were no creases before she grabbed her backpack and left the room.

"Okay, I'm going over to Conner's house," Bailey called as she raced down the stairs. "We're going to be working on our projects so I might be back sort of late. I have my phone if you need to call. Don't wait up."

She only made it halfway to the front door before she heard Tommy's voice call after her. "Freeze!" Steeling herself, Bailey turned towards Tommy and waited for him to come closer. He strode towards her, looking over the top of his glasses as he did so. " _That's_ what you're wearing to work on a school project?" He asked.

"Well what were you expecting, Tommy? Pajamas?" Bailey shot back. She reached up a hand and pretended to cover her mouth in fear. "I'm sorry, I mean Dr. Oliver. Or is Dr. O better for you?"

"You've been spending _way_ too much time with Avalon," Tommy commented flatly. Bailey smiled at his comment. It was true when they first met she had been very open and excited and pleasant to be around. But growing up, she had come into her own sense of confidence and identity. So what if her sense of humor—or her entertainment of getting on Tommy's nerves—made her a little snarky sometimes.

"Or we just have the same sense of humor," Bailey reminded him. Tommy ignored her statement and crossed his arms. "I'm going to be late." Still Tommy looked at her sternly. "Boy, I hate to see what you'll do when you have a daughter."

"At this point you…" Tommy trailed off, unsure of how to finish his sentence.

Bailey breathed a sigh of relief when she spotted Avalon walking their way, attracted by the argument. She looked Bailey up and down then turned to Tommy with raised eyebrows. "Are you seriously lecturing her on the way she's dressed when you used to walk around with no shirt on?"

Tommy pressed his lips together. "That was when I was practicing martial arts. I practiced a lot and it got hot in the Youth Center."

"Besides, if anyone gets a say in what she wears it should be me," Avalon continued. "I basically raised her since she was born and I think she looks fine." Avalon discreetly waved her hand towards the door and Bailey took the hint, slowly shuffling over while Tommy was distracted. "Besides they're working on a school project, how much trouble can they get into?"

"Plenty," Tommy replied. "Especially considering they're rangers."

"I think you're trying to block out the times in high school when you should've been studying but was making out with Kim instead."

"That only happened once."

"That _I_ know of?"

"Do you always have to be this difficult?

Bailey winked her thanks to Avalon and slipped out the front door. Locking it behind her she turned just in time for Kira to pull up to the house in her small two-seater car. Bailey's eyebrows rose as she walked over to the passenger side. "I never thought I'd ever see you in a car like this," she commented.

An amused glance flashed through Kira's eyes. "Why's that?"

"Because you seem to roll your eyes and sneer whenever Conner shows up in his convertible, mate," Bailey pointed out.

Slowly, Kira nodded. "That's all because he doesn't take much care of the environment while driving it and because he likes to show off." She reached over and opened the passenger side door. "I actually worked hard to get this car."

"How so?" Bailey dropped her backpack into the back seat then dropped into the passenger seat, slamming the door shut.

"Chores, jobs, birthdays, holidays…you name it I saved for it. Not only did I have to decide between getting some new music gear, which believe me is hard enough, but it took me almost a full year before I could get it. My parents wouldn't let me get one unless I paid for half."

Bailey nodded. She pulled her hair back and Kira started up the car again, heading in the direction of Conner's house. As they grew nearer and nearer, Bailey couldn't help but notice that Kira's scowl continued to deepen. Almost as if it were some sort of a homing beacon. After a few moments of watching her Bailey asked, "So what's up with you and Conner?"

Something flittered across Kira's face that she couldn't quite place. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you seem to have something bad to say about him every time his name comes up in conversation. Conner doesn't seem to be so happy to see you. And you argue a lot. I've noticed that since we first met and found the Dino Gems. And you're starting to work as a team, since you were practically forced to, but now you've got a disdainful expression." Bailey shrugged. "Common sense would indicate that you have something against him."

Now Kira sighed heavily. She shifted in her seat and changed her grip on the steering wheel. "It's complicated," she finally said. "Just as long as we get along now so we can make sure Mesogog doesn't take over Reefside then it doesn't matter."

"It just seems like it's really personal the way you guys are arguing, yeah?"

Kira shrugged. "We've agreed to at least be civil now. The last thing I ever want is for our arguing to help Mesogog." She turned down another road and the car started to blow by bigger houses. "Speaking of Mesogog, you seem to know a lot about what he wants."

"To take over the city and then go on to take over the world before moving onto the next one," Bailey remarked with an amused smile. "These guys aren't very creative in their modes of operation. I can practically time when things like this will happen each year." She tapped the side of her chin. "It usually starts in February…"

"But Dr. O is a part of it as well? That's the part I don't get. He worked to make the Tyrannodrones? And now it's attacking us. It must be weird."

Bailey nodded.

In some ways she, Avalon, and Tommy had become used to it. Tommy having been the evil green ranger at one point still haunted him at times. Avalon's past with the Vipers made it hard for her to have a lot of good things happen without expecting something bad to happen right after. Though Bailey had to admit her experiences within that gang had made her senses of upcoming danger very useful. Then Bailey, who had a background in working as the technical advisor for the rangers as well as helping in the creation of the Turbo powers could understand the devastating feeling of the powers being used for evil.

Too many times of rangers being brainwashed and used for evil became easier to deal with as time went on but to have it fall under completely evil hands…what hurt the most was watching Tommy try to figure out how it happened when he thought everything had been destroyed in the island explosion. That coupled with the resurfacing of Anton Mercer had a big effect on him.

"In many ways it's something you get used to," Bailey finally said. "Mesogog somehow got a hold of the work that Tommy and Anton Mercer had to mix dinosaurs and technology and used it to create the Tyrannodrones. As far as I know of Tommy's intended work, they weren't supposed to come out that way." She reached up and tucked loose hair behind her ear. "But that's the point of being a ranger; expect the unexpected and come up with a backup plan."

"So what's the backup plan for this one?"

"You guys are. Well, we didn't expect Tommy to become a ranger again but you guys are. Otherwise we might've had to come up with something else to deal with it."

"But why Reefside?"

A painful wave of emotion crested through Bailey's body. She thought she had gotten over that. Then again it hadn't happened so long ago. Maybe that was the problem, too. They were all trying too hard to forget what happened that the put all of their attention into this new ranger business.

Bailey briefly closed her eyes and she rested her forehead against her fingertips. Then she opened her eyes and curled her fingers into a fist. "There was an accident…a car accident…and we lost our parents. I guess a change of scenery was a great way to get away from it. Tommy already had the job lined up here and Av and I were actually coming through Blue Bay Harbor when we got the news. And if you ever get to know Tommy you'll find that there are some things he doesn't take very well and we thought it was a good idea to move with him."

"Oh…I'm sorry."

"That's alright. We're getting through it."

Bailey wasn't entirely sure about that, honestly.

The three never really spoke about it since the funeral. They continued to live their lives in a...somewhat strange way. Tommy had always been a big brother figure to her and since his parents' death had seemed to fall into that role more. Avalon, on the other hand, had been telling the truth as she practically raised Bailey since she was a baby and had a definite sense of being a big sister and a mother to Bailey all at once. They butted heads every now and then over how to act now that Bailey was a teenager but they all worked well together, leaning on each other for support when the time came.

Still, the longer they avoided the hard topics the harder it was going to be when it came up once more.

Then Bailey changed the subject to ask Kira about how she got started in music and before she knew it the two were rapid firing their favorite bands, songs, and genres back and forth to each other. They pulled up at Conner's place, in a deep conversation about genres of music they liked to listen to but no one else knew about.

Bailey and Kira climbed out of the car just in time for a luxuries car to slowly pull up behind them before coming to a stop. Bailey's eyebrows rose as she looked over the car, a top of the line Mercedes, and her eyes shifted to Trent as he climbed out of the passenger seat, eyes drawn and looking like he wanted to be anywhere else but there. Beside her, Kira brightened a little.

Trent leaned into the passenger window and muttered something to the driver and stood back as the car backed away at high speed and disappeared from sight. An uncomfortable silence followed.

"Nice car," Bailey finally said.

"Thanks I guess," Trent said. He sighed, pulling his book bag up his shoulder. "It's my dad's. He likes to show off every now and then." Then he cleared his throat. "I'm sorry I'm late. My father he's…he's very busy and I don't drive so it takes some time for me to get around sometimes."

"You missed the field trip," Kira pointed out.

"My dad didn't sign the permission slip," Trent explained.

"Why wouldn't he-?"

"Are you going to stand out there all day or are you going to come in?" Conner called, coming out onto the front porch. He held a soccer ball in his hands, pressing his palms against both sides of it. "I could be doing better things but we all have to be here."

Trent sighed heavily and started up towards the house with Kira and Bailey right behind. Once inside Conner gave them a quick tour of the house. "That's the kitchen, the living room, bathroom, basement is downstairs, some more bathrooms are upstairs. My parents are around and Eric won't be bothering us." Conner then turned and pointed towards Ethan, who was sitting on the couch, staring at the TV. "And I'm sure you all know our resident computer nerd."

"I prefer computer genius," Ethan muttered, eyes still on the screen.

"Who's Eric?" Trent asked.

"My brother," Conner muttered. He lightly rolled his eyes then glanced over his shoulder as his mother came up behind him. "And this is my mom, mom, these are my…" Bailey laughed to herself as he struggled with what to call them. "These are my friends."

"It's nice to meet all of you," Mrs. McKnight said with a pleasant smile. She looked similar to Conner with the same, tall stature and light hair though her cheekbones and eye color were drafted a little differently. "And it'd good to see you again, Kira. You haven't been around in a while."

Kira gave a fleeting smile and nodded in reply.

Ethan's eyebrows rose and he looked back and forth between Kira and Conner. Then he slowly stood up and pointed at them. "I knew there was some sort of weird tension between you two. I mean, you were a little bit more annoyed at him than anyone who's offended by his bad pickup lines would be."

"Dude," Conner said in defense.

"I may be a computer nerd, but at least I know not to call every girl that comes my way 'babe'."

Mrs. McKnight let out a light huff and gently cuffed her son on the shoulder. "Whatever happened to being chivalrous? Didn't I teach you better than that?" She reached around with her free hand and pressed it against Conner's head so that she could reach up and give him a kiss on the cheek. "Have fun and make sure you get some good studying in."

"We will, mom," Conner said. His cheeks were flushed a bright red. "Thanks." He waited until his mother was out of earshot, after having gone into the kitchen to get a bottle of water. Then he turned to the others and glared at them, "No one say a word, I swear to God."

"So you mother cares about you, so what?" Ethan asked. His smiled never faded as he crossed his arms. "What I'm curious about is this thing between you and Kira."

"There's _nothing_ between him and Kira other than this project I'm going to hold over his head if we get a bad grade," Kira replied. She walked over to the couch and dropped down, picking up her backpack so that she could spread her books out. "Who even sets up a project this early in the school year?"

"Dr. O, obviously," Trent agreed. He stood off to the side, his hands shoved into the pockets of his khaki pants, face turned into the collar of his white button down shirt. "All of the other teachers just have some tests or quizzes coming up."

"Yeah, well, thanks for showing up, dude," Conner said. He patted Trent on the shoulder as he moved to the armchair and sat down, draping his legs over the side. He picked up a textbook and rested it against his raised legs. "This project is important to your grade, too."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. My dad…he can be kind of difficult sometimes."

"What does your dad do?" Bailey asked. She sat down on the floor with Ethan as they gathered their notes together. Their project was coming along nicely. They were to do an in-depth analysis of the food chain to determine whether or not there was a predator that would have found the Tyrannosaurus Rex to be its prey.

Trent hesitated for a moment. He looked torn, as if he didn't understand the question as well as not sure of what to say. "He's a scientist," he finally explained. "Lately he's been funding a bunch of research projects and new drugs that are being developed. So he spends a lot of time traveling."

"And that's why you haven't been around school a lot?" Kira asked.

Trent nodded. "Yeah. That and because I thought about getting home schooled."

"I don't think I could ever do that," Ethan said. "There's just too much that I could learn from all of the teachers we have. And besides, my parents would grow tired of me trying to work all of my projects into my computer game stuff."

"Homeschooling isn't so bad," Bailey muttered before she could stop herself.

Then she realized her mistake and focused her attention on her book, allowing her long hair to fall over her face. Not many people knew for a while before going into Angel Grove Middle School she had stayed in hers and Avalon's apartment, learning as much as she could on her own, going to the library every now and then to get new books.

She wasn't ashamed of her past in any way; she told the rest of the rangers fairly easily. But parts of her past were Avalon's secrets to tell and neither of them knew the rangers well enough to explain it.

"I mean, you get to learn at a quicker pace, in a way that's tailored more towards you rather than the way we're prepared for standardized tests in public school," she said. Then she started to ramble, and when she rambled, she started to show off her knowledge. "It's been proven that those who were homeschooled tend to have better problem solving skills as they were typically on their own. Let alone the fact the insisting of the focus on standardized tests just makes it that students have an adverse reaction towards the subjects they're being taught at an accelerated pace. Especially for seniors."

Then she noticed all eyes turned her way and she blushed, slapping her hand over her mouth. "Sorry, I was rambling wasn't I? Was that daggy of me?"

"No, it just makes me incredibly glad to know that you're partners with me on this project," Ethan declared. Bailey laughed in relief and accepted the high-five he sent her way. "So what is your stance on computer games?"

"That they're lame and a waste of time?" Conner called. The grin on his face showed how proud he was for that remark.

Instead of becoming angry, Ethan shot him a smirk in response. "I was asking about computer games, not your personal thoughts on soccer." Conner's smile immediately faded. Bailey, Kira, and Trent laughed. Then Conner started to smile a little and he grabbed a pillow, throwing it towards Ethan, who caught it against his chest and lowered it to the floor.

Then the group got to work. While Ethan and Bailey continued on the research information they already had; tightening up on a few points and casting aside others that wouldn't keep their topic together, Conner, Kira, and Trent struggled a little. It took them a while to come up with their topic; what did they think, other than the asteroid hit, what could've killed the dinosaurs? Then they became stuck when they started their research, getting sidetracked momentarily when using their computers to figure out preliminary information.

After an hour or so of work Ethan broke the silence by stretching out across the ground of the living room and let out a low moan. He rested his hands on his stomach and feigned a sigh. "Boy, I could go for some food right about now."

"That's not very subtle, Ethan," Kira pointed out.

"I don't blame him, I'm kind of hungry, too," Trent agreed. He dropped his pen to the table top and reached to the side of his bag. "D'you mind if we take a break?" He didn't wait for an answer before taking out a sketch pad and flipped a few pages until he reached a picture of a landscape that was half finished.

"That sounds good to me," Kira agreed. She rubbed her eyes and did a double take when she glanced at Trent's drawings. "Wow, did you do that yourself?"

Trent smiled bashfully, turning his sketchpad over so that he could show her more. "Yeah, there's this really cool pond I've seen around here and I thought it would be cool to draw. I'm not finished yet but…"

"It's amazing," Kira continued. She gently ran her finger over the page. "It's like…I'm actually there."

"But you're not considering it's a piece of paper," Conner pointed out. He stood up and yawned, stretching his arms over his head. Bailey looked up just in time for his shirt to ride up over his stomach and she found himself staring at his flat, muscular stomach. She only looked away, feigning pulling a glob of mascara from her eyes when he turned her way. "I'm starting to get hungry, too. Is popcorn okay with everyone?"

"Yeah, and can you bring me a soda, too?" Ethan asked. His eyes were closed as he lay back, arms crossed behind his head.

Conner rolled his eyes. Then he turned his gaze to Bailey and tilted his head towards the kitchen. "Do you mind helping me out, it's going to be hard to carry all of this stuff."

Heart beating against her chest, Bailey nodded. "Sure." She stood up, smoothing down the back of her skirt and followed Conner to the kitchen. "You mean you can't handle all of this with your super speed or anything?" she teased.

Conner's lips pulled back into a smile. "That's the least of my worries, honestly" he said. "I think accidentally showing it off in class or during a soccer game is worse."

"Has that happened yet?" Bailey frowned. "If it has, you need to tell us so Tommy or Hayley or Av can figure out what's going on. Maybe you don't have as good a control over your powers as you think. It can take a while to adjust to the new sense of strength and speed in general from the powers, but your added speed may be harder, yeah?"

"So far so good, but if anything else happens I'll be sure to let you know," Conner said. He popped a bag of popcorn into the microwave and started to gather bowls, glasses, and soda together. He slowed his movements as he placed it all on the counter. "Actually, there _is_ something I wanted to talk to you about," he said slowly.

"Mhm."

"Well, as you could probably guess…schoolwork isn't my strong suit. If it wasn't so important for a soccer scholarship I probably wouldn't bother." Then Conner sighed heavily and he ran a hand through his hair. "But…my mom is really pushing me to get good grades so I can go into a good school…and to pull up my grades that high that quickly would be really difficult."

"Mhm."

Bailey wrung her hands together, twisting her fingers, as she waited for Conner to ask for her help to study. She knew that's what he was going for. Not exactly what she had been hoping for but close enough. Lifting her gaze, Bailey smiled softly. She couldn't help it. Conner was just really cute, and certainly had drive in his passion for soccer and had enough potential to be a great red ranger and leader.

"And this dinosaur stuff…it's really cool but there's so much that confuses me already and it doesn't look like things are going to get any better. So I was wondering if you'd want to help me out. I mean, if you had the time. I'm not going to force you to do it or anything."

"Yeah. I can do that, mate. No worries."

Conner's eyes lit up and his shoulders slumped as if a weight had literally been taken off his shoulders. He straightened up, pulling at the neck of his red shirt. "Thank you," he said quietly, honestly.

"You sound surprised," Bailey pointed out.

"I guess I didn't expect you to agree so quickly." His eyes shifted. The microwave beeped, signaling the popcorn was done cooking, but he made no move to get it. "Or why? I mean, you don't really know me."

"Because I like you, Conner," Bailey said honestly. "And I think you deserve to have at least one person on your side." She smiled at him.

Conner smiled back and the two held their gaze for a long moment before finally looking away.

* * *

Mesogog hummed to himself as he watched the rangers at Conner's house. He always felt there was something that could be done if there was a great understanding of an enemy if they were watched. Human were creatures of habit; they did the same things every day and rarely changed their schedule. It was no wonder they had issues of being stalked and harassed. And still, they didn't learn.

It was a practice he made sure to do for each of his enemies. So far, he found that the rangers were the same creatures of habit and yet there were cracks continuously forming and being repaired as the days went on. Though with Tommy on their side he knew it would be difficult. The teams led by Tommy Oliver were synonymous with the forces of good, rumors spread around the galaxies that he was the one who managed to send the rangers into space with the help of NASADA. There was no telling the kind of truth that was in it, however the power rangers were still feared.

Mesogog was never one to fear anyone nor was he one to show much emotion. Though if anyone walked by him at that exact moment it would appear that he was smiling gleefully. For the monster he came up with was one that would certainly send the rangers into a tizzy. Especially once they became fatigued. But this wasn't to be a normal monster of their nightmares but of a heightened one that would be incredibly tough to defeat.

Mesogog paused in his pacing and twisted around, his cape flowing behind him as he did so. He strode over to the Geno-Randomizer and peered at the bottles that were sitting on the nearby bench. Tapping his fingernail against each glass Mesogog stopped on one.

"Yes," he hissed, yellow-orange eyes seeming to glow with glee. "Perfect."

He took the bottle containing DNA and placed it within its individual place on the machine. Then he picked up a bottle that held the DNA of a vine plant as well as another bottle that held leather. Once all three bottles were in place on the Geno-Randomizer he started up the machine and walked over to the chamber where the monster would come out.

The chamber filled up with white smoke that slowly turned black as the seconds passed. Finally, the smoke started to turn gray then white once more as the doors opened. There was a high-pitched whinny and the sound of metal clomping on the ground. Finally, the smoke cleared completely and a pitch black horse with glowing red eyes clomped out of the chamber. It lifted onto its back legs and whinnied once more before crashing to the ground, causing a tremor to move through the lair.

Mesogog took a step back and hissed in delight. "Nightmare," he greeted it. "One of my better creations."

"I'm here to serve, master" Nightmare said. Though not through normal means. By all accounts it was a normal looking horse, though its speaking patterns came almost telepathically.

"Excellent. Go forth to the rangers and make sure they don't ever want to dream again," Mesogog declared.

Nightmare nodded and turned, galloping out of the lair at top speed, leaving a black cloud behind it as it went.

* * *

 **A/N:** This chapter was originally going to be longer but then it ended up being _too_ long so it was split in half. So the next chapter/next half of the chapter will be up soon.

One thing I've noticed of my stories is that apart from _All To Blame_ (and the one that's coming up within the next chapter) I haven't had many monsters that were character driven (aka the monsters that are used to bring character development to a ranger/teach them a lesson) as I had focused more on the overall story/character plot. So I'm now open for monster suggestions. What I'll need is

 ** _Name, Power, Appearance, and the ranger/character it would affect_** (out of Conner, Kira, Ethan, Trent, Tommy, Avalon, and Bailey). If you don't have any ideas please spread the word so that others can give their submissions, so submissions are open.

 **~Avalon**


	19. Chapter 19: The All-Nighter (2)

**Chapter 19**

 _The All-Nighter (2)_

* * *

"And this is what gives you the power to morph?" Trini gently twisted and turned the silver bracelet that held that Black Dino Gem in her hand. She held it closer to her face before holding it out towards Tommy once more.

Avalon, who sat on her other side, nodded. "It's used as a communicator as well. Of course, I reckon it doesn't work nearly as well as the one Billy made way back when, but it gets the job done."

"I'll have you know that these new communicators have been designed with just as much technological thought in mind," Hayley defended her work. "Though I will admit that I'm also working on teleportation methods similar to the ones you've had when you first started out in your duties."

"So tell her about that dino dude that we went up against last time," Zack suggested. He sat in a chair next to Trini, gently rubbing his hands up and down his arms; as if trying to rub away the tattoos that rested there. As if trying to rub away his past regrets. "That guy was certainly crazier than anything we've ever seen when we were still in commission and that includes the pudgy pig."

Trini laughed.

Avalon snorted. "You went against a monster called Pudgy Pig?"

"There were plenty of monsters that I didn't understand that were created," Trini said once she calmed down. She wiped a few tears from her eyes she had laughed SO HARD. Then she rested her arms in her lap, leaning toward Tommy. "So tell me about these guys that you're going against now."

"There's this guy called Mesogog," Tommy explained. "And he's a bad dude. He's got two henchmen, Elsa and Zeltrax, who will literally do anything they can to destroy us. They're much more difficult to fight than Goldar and Rito ever were."

"That's not including the fact that Goldar and Rito were dopes," Avalon pointed out.

"Right. And we're not entirely sure what Mesogog wants at the moment, but the Tyrranodrones that he puts out are certainly more difficult to deal with." Tommy ran a hand through his hair, letting out a low sigh. "Not to mention that Anton Mercer is showing his face again and he wants absolutely nothing to do with me."

"Anton Mercer?" Trini repeated.

"Have you heard of him?" Zack asked. He shook his head, now rubbing his goatee. "Because I had no idea who the cat was until Tommy mentioned him. I mean, sure, when I heard the news that Tommy was missing in general I heard the name. But in general I don't know who he is."

"His name just sounds familiar," Trini said slowly. Her eyes narrowed a little. "What sort of work is he into? Is he a scientist of some sort?"

"Yeah, exactly! He worked in technology and I worked in paleontology."

"Then I think he created some of the new technology that I had seen over in Vietnam," Trini explained. "Some new scientific advancements that were mentioned in the newspaper time and time again. I just never made the connection to you."

"Well, I didn't think the connection would be made considering most people thought he was dead," Tommy agreed. He shook his head. "It's weird, it's like he became totally different person when he came back. He acts like he doesn't know who I am, doesn't want to talk to me…and he'll have to considering he's the parent of one of my students."

"Everything that happened on that island is probably just really hard for him to talk about," Trini said patiently. "And knowing that o made it out while others hadn't… maybe it's hard for him because he's reminded too much about the people you lost that you worked with." She shrugged. "For a while after I left I tried not to think about rangering too much because it just made me sad knowing I left even if it was for a good cause." She motioned over to Zack. "And I'm sure Zack felt the same way."

"Well, it took me a while, but it wasn't until I had a lot of time to myself in prison that I realized there was a lot of good to what we were doing." He turned to Avalon, who started to say something then held up his finger in warning. "If you apologize again—"

Trini smiled once more. "So Mesogog is the latest one who is trying to take over the world?"

"Seems like it. But he's working a lot harder than the others that we've been up again. Mesogog has sent out a monster a day so far. The guys have hardly had any time to take a break," Tommy agreed.

"Much smarter than the other evil factions you've been up against before," Hayley pointed out. She started to speak rapidly, using her hands as she spoke as well. "From my research over the last groups you have fought against they spent more time having their plan come about rather than thinking of it in a grand scheme. That's certainly what Mesogog is doing, especially with the invisiportals that can throw monsters and tyrannodrones anywhere in the city when they please."

"Not to mention Elsa and Zeltrax, mate," Avalon agreed. "They seem to work on their own just as much as they're working with Mesogog." She rolled her eyes. "How many times have there been henchmen that managed to be smart enough to attack while at school?"

"Not many," Zack agreed.

"My point exactly. So what I think we should do is wait for the next time a monster comes down in an attack and then have Conner, Kira, and Ethan deal with that while the rest of us get into Mesgog's lair. IF we can find a way to know what he's doing ahead or time or even take his base down from the inside out, then I reckon we'll have the upper hand, yeah?"

Hayley raised an eyebrow. "But do you think it'll work?"

"You won't know until you try. And even then taking it by force, or at least getting as much knowledge as possible from being in there. The more we can see of his base, of his plans, the better we'll be in the long run," Avalon remarked. She raised an eyebrow. "It's much better than sitting here and talking about it, yeah?"

There was a sudden beeping sound from the monitors and Hayley turned around, typing rapidly on the computer to bring up the disturbance. Her eyes narrowed as she looked over the footage on the screen. There were Tyrannodrones running all over the place as well as the sensors indicating a monster in a nearby neighborhood.

"Looks like this guy really is working hard to keep you guys busy," Trini remarked, leaning over Hayley's shoulder to see them for herself.

"You can say that again."

"Would you like some help?"

"Only if you're up for it," Avalon remarked, noticing the shine of excitement moving through Trini's eyes. It had been a while since she had been able to get any good fighting in other than the sparring she did to keep herself fit.

"We're not _that_ old, Av," Zack pointed out with a jovial grin. "We're still young and spry and can take care of a few ugly monsters when the time comes." He stood up, stretching his arms over his head. "Besides, these guys need to be schooled on hip hop kido."

"You better head out there now," Hayley continued. "If the Tyrannodrones are being sent down to a different area than this monster, then I believe they're examining the success of distraction. Take them down as quickly as possible and see if the others need some help."

"You got it," Tommy agreed. "Dino Thunder, Power Up, Ha!"

Trini crossed her arms over her chest and turned to look at Zack, who continued to appear a little disgruntled by Tommy's new ranger color. "Do you think he'll take over Yellow anytime soon?" she asked.

Tommy ignored them and teleported the group to the Tyrannodrones. Once landing, Tommy summoned his Brachio Staff and started his attack against the Tyrannodrones. Just as he thought would happen, Elsa seemed to appear out of nowhere and started a powerful attack against him, leaving Avalon, Zack, and Trini to the Tyrannodrones.

Ducking out of the way of a flying kick, Tommy spun around and struck Elsa in the back of the leg with the Brachio Staff. She fell to her knees and swung out her with sword, to which Tommy parried, pressing his staff against hers as hard as he could. The two pushed back and forth against each other, trying to overpower each other as they could.

"Looks like you're a quick learner, Tommy," Elsa said, baring her teeth at him. "Coming out here by yourself to deal with this."

"It's not being by yourself when you know where your strengths and weaknesses lie," Tommy grunted back against the force she was pushing his way. "And you and the rest of the Tyrannodrones…I can't say you're too difficult to deal with. A nuisance maybe…" He leapt backwards as Elsa surged forward once more and they were locked into battle once more.

They swirled, ducked, dodged, and dove aside as the two continued to fight each other.

Avalon, Zack, and Trini took on the Tyrannodrones with relative ease. As with other footmen that were used to cause as much destruction as usual, these ones fought hard. Nevertheless compared to Putties, Cogs, Tengas, and Pirranatrons they weren't so particularly difficult. Though they did have clubs and sharp swords attached to their hands that were swung around towards the rangers.

Avalon bent backwards out of the way before doing a back tuck. With that maneuver she kept her stomach from being slashed open from a wide, arching sweep. Then she did a strong kick downwards the knocked the Tyrannodrone to the ground. She followed it up with a quick punch to the stomach, flipping the Tyrannodrone over her head. Then she turned around and flipped over the Tyrannodrone that came up behind her.

Trini spun and ducked out of the way of attack with as much gracefulness as she always had. Her time away from being a ranger had not slowed down her training and her Praying Mantis Style was still in top form as she took down Tyrannodrones left and right. On her right side she noticed that Zack's style had changed a bit; not only did he still do his Hip Hop Kido style but there was more strength and power within it, most likely from what he had learned to defend himself while he was locked away. The two worked together and worked separately to take down the rest of the Tyrannodrones.

Avalon then turned her attention to Tommy and Elsa as they continued to fight. She looked back and forth between the Tyrannodrones as they started to gather themselves once more and then back to Elsa, eyes narrowing. That's when she noticed the Tyrannodrones moving in a specific direction and after going a few feet, started to disappear.

"Whoa!" Trini cried.

"How're they doing that?" Zack added.

"It's an Invisiportal," Avalon explained. She looked over at Tommy and Elsa as they continued to fight, hesitating for a minute. "Tommy can handle her and then follow us later. Come on before we lose our chance!" With that she led the charge to the Invisiportal and with Trini and Zack behind her they were sucked into the vortex, landing in Mesogog's lair with a flash of green light.

Avalon crouched down on the cool, metallic ground for a few seconds before slowly standing up. The room they had landed in was dark and as far as she could see it was as if they were in a holding cell. She glanced over at Zack, seeing he recognized it as the cell they had been in before.

"Where are we?" Trini asked.

"Mesogog's lair," Avalon replied. She motioned for them to follow as she headed down the hallway."We were here before when Mesogog and Elsa trapped Tommy right when he got the Black Dino Gem. Chances are there's something around here that'll tell us what he wants as well as to what his plans in general are."

"Okay, but you see, walking through a lair is never this easy," Zack commented as they walked along. "Chances are there's going to be something that's going to jump out from around the corner or creepily announce themselves or—"

With that a swarm of Tyrannodrones appeared at the end of the hallway. Avalon never broke her stride as she increased her speed into a sprint directly towards them. At the last minute she launched herself forwards and landed atop a Tyrannodrone. She used the falling momentum to launch herself forward in a flip where she landed in a crouch on another Tyrannodrone. Swiftly, Avalon twisted around and caught the other two in the chest with her arms, knocking them to the ground.

Standing up, she dusted off her hands and turned back to Zack and Trini. "You were saying?" She asked.

"Just that there's a way these things generally work out and I would've been surprisingly upset if it didn't go that way," Zack said.

Trini shook her head and continued to follow Avalon. "We better keep our eyes peeled. If it's that easy for these guys to come out of hiding to attack us then this Mesogog guy doesn't take his security lightly."

"You can say that again," Zeltrax said as he walked up behind them. The three turned and fell into fighting stances as Zeltrax came to a stop. "It's very brave of you to come into the lair without someone to protect you."

"We can protect ourselves," Trini declared. "We've been through a lot more than you and we'll continue to come out on top."

Zeltrax growled. He started to take a step towards them then stopped, shaking rapidly. He grunted and groaned, taking a few steps back, bringing his hands up to his forehead. "What's happening?" He growled, continuing to stumble around. Finally, an enraged yell sounded from Zeltrax and he turned back to the rangers, holding his sword over his head.

He swung it a few times then charged towards them.

* * *

Ethan's eyes widened as he looked back and forth between Conner and Bailey as they both held their breath. Then he turned his attention to his watch. They were really getting along in their contest with each other, a lame contest that had been started because things had been winding down after making great progress with their projects.

Honestly, Ethan had no idea what more he and Bailey could do with their project to make it even better apart from the construction of their model. As it was there wasn't any products they could use at Conner's place to do so—he needed his own computer lab and programs to work on the idea both of them had come up with. (What Bailey called a third grade science fair volcano on steroids). It got to the time of night where they group started to become more distracted but didn't have as many problems with it.

Ethan hadn't laughed that hard in a long time. Actually, he had been a bit of a loner for the past couple of years. Yes he was part of the computer club, and the debate team, and the matheletes, and the science club, but none of them were really friends. Honestly, he walked the halls of Reefside High with his nose buried in a comic book for as long as he could remember. While his classmates found people to hang out with on weekends and during lunch he continued to sit by himself and advance his computer programs and research projects.

He was, as anyone would say, a computer nerd. And while he didn't have any shame in it, high school as supposed to be the best four years of his life and it was only recently that was starting to come true. Now that he, Kira, and Conner had agreed to put their differences aside—and Kira and Conner agreed to cool off their bickering for at least that night—they had been having a lot of fun. Even Trent had managed to open up a bit more to joke around with the other four.

Ethan looked up as Conner let out a loud gasp of air, bringing a hand up to his eyes as they watered. Bailey smiled and slowly let out her breath of air as Ethan turned off the stopwatch running on his watch. "That was just about two minutes," he called.

"Two minutes?!" Conner's eyes widened. "That felt like forever!"

"I told you I'm good at holding my breath," Bailey said. "A lot of surfing and swimming makes it easy. And I'm amazing at bobbing for apples, yeah?" She giggled, leaning back against the couch behind her. "But it's a good thing that you're getting the practice in; Tommy, Av, and I were just saying that we need to tests your guys' bodies even further if you're going to be going up against Mesogog more often."

"Shh!" Frantically, Ethan brought his finger to his lips and shushed her. "This is supposed to be a secret remember?" He nodded over towards Trent. "We don't want anyone that's not supposed to know to find out."

Conner followed Ethan's head tilt and raised an eyebrow. "Something tells me that he's a little too far gone to notice anything the rest of us are saying." Ethan raised his eye in response and looked over at Trent. Conner was right. Trent was so engrossed in conversation with Kira that he wouldn't have noticed it anyone threw a pillow at his head. (Which had been proven when Conner did accidentally throw a pillow at his head, completely missing Ethan whom was his actual target).

As the other three fell silent they watched as Trent continued to go through his sketchbook, showing her different sketches and drawings that festooned the pages of his book. And Kira continued to study each page he showed her, eyes widening in excitement as well as being generally impressed with different ones that came up.

"What's going on?"

Ethan whipped around at the sudden voice and found Conner had done the same, his eyes widening a little when his step-father came into the room. Conner swallowed hard and lowered his head picking up a book and resting it in his lap. Out of the corner of his eye, Ethan could see Kira and Trent immediately separate on the couch. Michael studied the group with an amused smile on his face.

He crossed his arms and looked at Conner."It doesn't look like there's much studying going on," he commented.

Conner ran a hand through his hair. "Just taking a break," he explained. Ethan's eyebrows came together when he noticed how quiet Conner's voice had gotten when responding to him. "There's only so much we can do before we break for popcorn, you know?"

"Just clean up everything when you're done, you know how much your mother hates it when you or Eric leaves a mess behind," Michael said. But he still didn't leave the room. He cleared his throat. "So what is it that you all are working on?"

"We've got projects for our first period science class that we're working on," Ethan said quickly, coming to Conner's defense. "Paleontology."

"Paleontology?" Michael repeated, eyebrows rising.

"Yeah, it's an elective science class and we all decided to take it," Ethan continued. He cleared his throat and leaned over to pick up his notebook. As he did so he suddenly realized that he was shaking. Whether it was from nervousness or out of fear he wasn't sure, neither was he sure why it started. "We learn about the different paleontology periods as well as to give our ideas as to why the dinosaurs died out. That's what our overall idea of the class is."

"And who is this class taught by?"

"Dr. Oliver."

"Dr. Oliver, huh…" Michael rubbed his face for a minute and Ethan watched him before looking over at Conner, who grimaced. Finally Michael smiled. "Well, if you're all working together I'm sure there's bound to be a good grade on this one, eh, Conner? You can't rely on your soccer skills for the rest of your life."

"Right," Conner replied.

With that, Michael turned and left the room. Ethan's eyebrows rose. That wasn't so unusual for the night, thought it was normally Conner's mother that would make an appearance; making small talk, giving out more food when it was needed, suggesting that they take a break when they went a long stretch of time working on it.

"And I thought _my_ dad was strict on school work. I mean, he's a Captain so he's bloody strict on _everything_ but that's ridiculous," Bailey remarked.

Kira snorted. "That's not strict. That's caring about grades and your future. Strict is when you have a nine o'clock curfew every night. Including the weekend."

Trent's nose wrinkled as he thought about what she had said. "Then how are you here tonight?"

"I lied," Kira said simply. She shrugged. "Told them I was going over to a girlfriend's house and that we were going to be working on some school stuff." She pointed over to the red ranger. "If anyone asks, Conner is a girl's name." Conner rolled his eyes and lifted his hand to give her the finger, causing the others to laugh. This made Kira slowly start to smile evilly. "Have I ever told you about the time that Conner and the rest of the soccer team decided to dress in drag for the talent show?"

"I don't remember that ever happening," Ethan stated.

"That's because it was in middle school."

"That explains it." Ethan never went to the talent shows in middle school. They were the same things over and over again, the popular kids doing little skits and singing songs and doing whatever to get a laugh from the rest of the school. It was a big popularity contest and he never found them to be fun. Not to mention being in sixth grade when he was showing off his yo-yo talent and he got bullied for it for the next two years.

He wasn't ever going to go up on stage ever again and knowing how it was all the same kept him from wanting to show his face. (Not to mention knowing how much torment he would receive the moment he sat down in the audience). It was hard to believe things were the same since they were in middle school; he minded his own business and bullies continued to seek him out. How else would he explain the email in his inbox calling him a faggot and saying they were going to beat him up over and over again?

Derrick was obviously the one behind it, he made sure to sign his name on each message. He was that brazen. And knowing Principal Randall, Derrick had some sort of an explanation for the messages; maybe scaring another so called 'nerd' into keeping his email IP hidden.

 _You come here to hang out with some of your friends and the bullies still get to you,_ Ethan thought.

He zoned back in to Kira's story, watching as Conner pretended to be suddenly interested in a weight lifting magazine. Then there was a sudden clap of thunder, so loud and so close that the group all jumped. Trent immediately got to his feet and pulled back the curtain to look outside. The sky was blacker and black, the only lightning coming from lightning strikes every now and then. When the lightning struck Ethan could see the clouds swirling together in a vortex. He pressed his lips together.

It didn't look like a normal vortex.

Turning back, he exchanged a look with Kira, Conner, and Bailey, recognizing the same expression on their faces. It had to be the work of one of Mesogog's monsters. "Come on!" Ethan got to his feet and raced out onto the porch with his friends following them. "Whoa!" As soon as they went out the front door the wind nearly pushed Ethan back against the house.

Kira shielded her face from her flying strands of hair, squinting to see in front of her. "What's going on?!" She called.

"I don't know," Trent shouted back.

"But it looks like we're about to find out!" Conner pointed. As he said that, the sky opened up and there was another bolt of lightning. This time it was so big and bright that Ethan could feel the heat from the bolt as it struck the ground. He took a step back as he watched a dark black horse with glowing red eyes landed on the ground and lifted back onto its rear legs.

It whineyed loudly, causing the five to slap their hands over their ears, hoping to block out the sound. "Looks like I've crashed the party!" Nightmere shouted. He landed back on the ground, his hooves creating a loud thud as they struck the ground.

"Whoa, I knew Reefside had some monster problems but I never thought I'd see one out here," Trent gasped.

"You don't know the half of it, mate," Bailey replied.

Before the groups could move Nightmare shot a length of vines out to the rangers and it wrapped around their ankles, holding them still. "Considering you're so busy with an all-nighter, let's make sure that you stay awake! Have some sweet dreams, with my nightmare syndrome!"

Nightmare sent a black cloud over the rangers. It crackled and sparked with electricity that surged through the groups bodies, jerking their arms and legs before they crashed to the ground unconscious.

* * *

 **A/N:** I just realized I forgot to mention this; there are other seasons of rangers that'll show up and not just the OG ones. I'm just focusing on them at the moment. And now there's more of Ethan's background (and a little bit of Kira's and Conner's) as well as to why he was so hesitant to talk to Conner at first. Not to mention Tommy vs. Elsa, and Avalon, Trini, and Zack in Mesogog's lair with Zeltrax.

So there's a lot going on! Let me know what you guys think. I'll update again soon.

Thanks to **Ashley, brankel1, ObsessedwReading, LadyKeren, and Adela** for reviewing.

 **~Avalon**


	20. Chapter 20: The All-Nighter (3)

**Chapter 20**

 _The All-Nighter (3)_

* * *

Tommy fell to his knee, trying to catch his breath as Elsa knelt in front of him, doing the same. This battle had lasted longer than he thought it would; Elsa was certainly doing her best to keep Tommy at bay. She obviously had noticed his friends had one through an Invisiportal. If it were something incredibly important she may have gone with them, too.

 _Maybe there's something through there she wants them to see,_ Tommy thought. He tightened his grip on his Brachio Staff, suddenly wishing Zordon, Alpha, or Saba could give him some guidance. It always came in handy at a time like this. All the same, he was doing his best to try and keep Elsa as preoccupied as she was keeping him; anything to give his friends more time to infiltrate Mesogog's lair.

"Looks like you really _are_ getting a little too old for this," Elsa called, slowly rising back up. "And everyone says you're the best ranger? I don't see it!"

Tommy chuckled to himself. "It takes more heart than anything else to be a ranger," he replied. "And right now…I wouldn't be able to stand it if you beat me."

Elsa continued to chuckle. She and Tommy started to circle each other, watching each other's move. "You don't know what you're up against. I'm just getting started."

"So am I," Tommy agreed. He shifted his Brachio Staff to his other hand. The two continued to circle each other. Tommy's eyes shifted to Elsa's arms and legs, watching and waiting to see if she would strike first. The tension that filled the air pressed heavily down on his shoulders, his breath coming out heavily within his helmet. As the seconds passed his breathing filled his ears, fueling his paranoia.

Fights like this…where you knew anything could happen…that scared him a little. Especially when he was out in the open with no one there to call for backup. With the others gone through the Invisiportal chances were they wouldn't be in contact and the other rangers were dealing with their own monster as their sensors had indicated before Tommy left.

"You better keep on your toes, Tommy," Hayley said. "Elsa clearly is trying to keep you from something. Get her talking as long as you can and I'll continue to keep watch on the others. Maybe I can lock onto Avalon, Trini, and Zack while I'm at it."

"No problem, Hayley," Tommy aid under his breath so that Elsa couldn't hear him. "Didn't you hear? I'm getting old. I need to get as much exercise in as I can." With that, he raced towards Elsa, holding the Brachio Staff over his head. Elsa let out a battle cry and raced back towards him.

Then they were locked into battle once more with grunts and groans of their effort to take the other down. Whatever it was that Elsa was trying to keep him from, she was doing a good job. _She's really loyal to Mesogog if she's willing to go this far,_ Tommy thought. There was another slash and Elsa lifted her foot, kicking Tommy in the chest, sending him tumbling backwards.

"You're done already?" Elsa called as Tommy rolled back to his feet. "I thought this would at least be a little more fun."

"Then why don't you try this for some fun!" Tommy shot back. He held out his Brachio Staff. "Wind Strike!" A gust of wind flew from the face of the staff, knocking Elsa off her feet. She let out a cry of surprise as the blast struck her, robbing her of her breath. Once she hit the ground her eyes flashed with fury and she rushed to get to her feet. However, Tommy wasn't done yet. "Earth Strike!"

This time, the ground started to tremor and shake before it rolled in waves, knocking Elsa over once more. Then spires of rock slid up from the ground and flung Elsa through the air. But Tommy wasn't finished yet. "Wave Strike! Fire Strike!"

This time a large wave burst forward from Tommy's staff followed by a rush of fire that encircled and encompassed Elsa. Stuck atop a spire made of earth with water and fire rushing around him she become even further encompassed by new rock until she was stuck up to her neck. Tommy grinned and moved towards her.

"What's the matter, Elsa? You seem a little tied up?"

A sneer crossed Elsa's lips. "That's cute." She twisted back and forth, trying to get out her trap. She held up her sword and slashed it against the rock. Little bits chipped off but otherwise she stayed ensnared. "I bet you're only a few days away from starting to make those lame dad jokes as well." She rolled her eyes. "You humans think you're so funny but you're the most annoying creatures I've ever come across."

"Now that I've got you, what are you up to?" Tommy demanded, walking closer. "You send out a monster to distract the others and you're attacking me. What is it that you don't want us to know?"

A psychotic grin slid onto Elsa's face. "It's not something we don't want you to know. It's so that Mesogog has enough time to make sure his plan of world domination can get off the ground. I'm sure this will be something that'll surprise you."

Tommy's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Why don't you come with me and find out!"

With that, Elsa slashed her sword down against the face of the rock structure that held her still. It erupted into an explosion of hot air and rock, causing Tommy to bring up his arm to shield his face. Then he felt Elsa grab onto him, her nails digging into his suit, hand squeezing on his arm. Finally, he felt his body lifted into the air in a sudden sucking motion. When he landed he found he was back in Mesogog's lair. Looking behind him he found Zeltrax fighting Avalon, Trini, and Zack, swinging his sword wildly as he did so.

Elsa screamed and attacked Tommy once more, forcing Tommy's attention back to him once more. As the battle waged on with the rangers and ex-rangers fighting as hard as they could, Mesogog stood off in the shadows. He watched with an air of indifference, yellow eyes shifted back and forth to follow the movements, arms resting behind his back.

He turned his head and let out an annoyed sigh. "These common occurrences are starting to become very irritating," he said. He walked into his lab and stared at the beakers and bottles that rested in front of the Geno-Randomizer. This time things were going to be different. This DNA was too precious to be mixed up with other random items so that they could be used as monsters to fend off the rangers. No, this was something that had be done s carefully as possible.

Too much would be at stake if things were to fall apart. He worked too long and too hard to have it fall apart now. As it was Nightmare and Elsa would've been a waste if things fell apart now. He needed all of the time he could get to be sure things fell accordingly.

Mesogog walked over to the Geno-Randomizer and ran the tips of his claws along the front of the bottles holding such precious DNA. Then he walked over to the ignition of the machine and started it up. As the machine started to shake rapidly, Mesogog took a step back and turned, walking over to the fighting monsters and rangers.

"It's too late," Mesogog called. "There's nothing you can do now." At his words, Elsa and Zeltrax took a step back away from the rangers, who in turn watched them carefully. "The Earth is going to belong to me."

"Master, you've gone forward with the plan?" Elsa asked, scurrying to his side. She reached out to grab onto him but Mesogog turned and glared at her and she immediately backed off. Angered, Mesogog turned to face her completely then used his powers to mentally attack her.

Elsa screeched in pain, bringing her hands up to her head, trying to quell the pain that coursed through her body. Zeltrax lowered his sword and stepped towards Mesogog as well. But he didn't outright question him. He wasn't that stupid. He'd follow his master to the edge of the Earth and back if it meant proving his loyalty to him. Apparently not even Elsa could understand that.

"How dare you question me!" Mesogog rasped. "When so far you've done nothing but continue to fail me and make me question why I decide to keep you around."

"This doesn't sound good," Zack commented.

"You should know by now, Zack, none of this is ever good," Trini reminded him.

Avalon took a menacing step towards Mesogog. "What are you up to, Mesogog?"

Mesogog finally relented on his attack on Elsa and turned back to the rangers. He took a deep breath through his nose and stepped towards the rangers. He went directly up to Tommy and looked him in the eye through the visor his helmet. "I want to return the world to the dinosaurs. But I realized I couldn't do it without some help." He tilted his head towards Elsa and Zeltrax. "Not this kind of help, but something on an even grander scale."

With that, the rangers suddenly keyed in on the sound of laughter and footsteps heading their way. It immediately made their blood run cold.

Avalon gasped lightly as she heard the familiar raspy sound that bullied and asserted his putties through attacks against the rangers.

Trini's eyes widened when she heard the high-pitched cackling that usually accompanied the former raspy voice.

Zack sucked in a deep breath when he heard the gravely voice accompanying a golden monster.

Tommy gritted his teeth as every cell in his body froze. His eyes shifted from Mesogog to the figures behind him as they approached. Finally they walked out into the center of the large room, illuminated by the ceiling light. Rita, Zedd, Goldar, Rito, Scorpina, King Mondo, Queen Machina, Divatox…he couldn't believe his eyes. The villains all laughed evilly as they caught sight of the rangers and their stunned expressions.

 _No,_ Tommy thought. He felt himself starting to shake.

It couldn't be. He had seen them all destroyed, he had seen them all purified by Zordon's energy falling over the Earth. And yet, here they were once again. Zedd grinned and thrust his Z-Scepter into the air.

"Once again we're back to take over the Earth!" He declared.

"Oh Zeddy, I'm so glad to have been given a second chance," Rita added. She raised an eyebrow. "It's better than that idea you had of bringing in Ivan Ooze to help us! He stuck us in a snow globe in return for releasing him!"

"Oh man," Zack whispered, unable to say anything else. Even Avalon, who always had something to say, was speechless as she watched the villains formerly destroyed continue to walk towards them.

Mesogog turned back to the rangers, his eyes flashing. "I see you remember the ones who have fallen to you before. But make no mistake; we're not going to fall this time. Not when I'm the one who is their master."

"Master?!" Rito cried. His voice was filled with outrage. Reaching out, he elbowed Zedd in the side. "I don't know, Ed, I don't like the sound of that."

"It's _Zedd_ you bumbling bucket of bones!"

Mesogog ignored the two. "Now, I'm giving you the chance to get away. Let the rest of your team know what's going on. Make no mistake, Dr. Oliver, I will not lose to you."

Reaching up a hand, Mesogog released an Invisiportal above the rangers, sending them out of his lair in a bright flash of green light.

* * *

"Kira! Get up!"

Kira jerked at the sound of her name being called and her eyes fluttered open. She groaned and closed her eyes once more, pressing her face into her mattress. Her head swam, she had a headache. Why did she have to stay up so late studying? It never did anything but bore her most of the time anyway, but actually _forcing_ herself to stay up?

" _Kira!"_

This time Kira's heart thudded against her chest leaving a tattoo against her ribcage. She pushed herself up and gazed around. Her breathing came out in shallow gasps, her body suddenly covered in a fearful heat that made sweat appear at her hairline. That voice…why was she hearing that voice? She should've been back at Conner's house hanging out with her friends and actually having fun. She shouldn't be hearing he sound of—"

" _KIRA!"_ This time the scream was accompanied by a loud thump on her bedroom door. " _ANSWER ME, DAMN IT!"_

Kira gulped and quickly got to her feet, throwing back the covers of her bed. She looked around her room for a moment then held her breath. She closed her eyes and her shoulders slumped as the banging continued on her bedroom door. The door shook rapidly against the force of the beating, the wood shaking on its hinges. Slowly opening her eyes, Kira walked over to the door and grasped the doorknob. She opened it just as there was another fist slammed against the door and it pushed open so quickly it smacked her in the shin.

"Ow!" Kira cried out in pain. She backed away from the door, bending down to rub the spot on her shin that suddenly erupted with a burning pain. The kind where the heat lasted for only a few moments but the pain lasted for long moments after.

"What the hell did I tell you about locking the doors?" Greer Ford demanded.

Kira could barely look at him. She couldn't bare to see the level of anger in his face. If she looked at him now it would spell trouble. It wasn't the right part of the confrontation. Don't speak unless spoken to. Don't look unless you were told to look.

"It's a fire hazard and I won't allow you to put yourself in danger!" Greer continued to berate his daughter as she stood in the middle of the room, staring at the floor. "Now why didn't you listen to your mother when she called you the first time?"

"She has to be difficult," Lisa Ford said. Kira peeked out from under her bangs and glanced towards her mother, who leaned against the doorframe. Kira hadn't noticed her behind her lumbering father's form. "She can never do anything the first time we ask."

Then there was silence.

Kira realized they were waiting for her to speak. She let out a quiet, shaky breath, doing her best to steady herself. "I-I'm sorry," she murmured. "I guess I was just…really tired." _I was at Conner's place how did I get back here? I couldn't have locked the door if I don't remember coming here…_ "I wasn't…thinking straight."

"You don't think at all. If you had, you wouldn't continuously disrespect us," Lisa said.

Kira started to plead her innocence but Greer cut her off. Then she glanced towards her mother, silently pleading with her and Lisa turned her gaze away. "And what did I tell you about cleaning up your room?!" Greer started to pace through the room, picking up clothes and heavily tossed them at Kira. Any books he found he threw aside as hard as he could where they thudded against the wall, causing Kira to flinch with each hit. "You can't even do that right! I let you go out and get some studying done with your friends to keep up your grades and you can't do the simple thing I asked you for!"

"I-I'm sorry," Kira said.

"I'm going to make sure you're sorry this time. Maybe you'll see how serious we are."

Lisa looked at her daughter with a raised eyebrow and turned away, leaving the room. Kira took a shuddering breath as her mother's footsteps went down the hall. _Why would you expect her to stay?_ Kira thought. _She always leaves when he gets like this._

Greer reached out and grabbed a handful of Kira's hair in his fist, pulling as hard as he could. Kira fell to her knees, gasping in pain. She tried not to make any sound other than that, knowing it would make things worse. Then the punches rained down, over and over again against her chest, face, back, and arms. Kira squeezed her eyes shut against the pain, willing herself to blank out to go numb to make it through the attack this time.

However she must've made Greer angrier than before for he picked her up by the hair and dragged her from the room. Kira tried to keep her feet underneath her but tripped over some clothes on the floor and fell heavily to the ground. Her sudden fall made Greer's grip on her hair suddenly shift, ripping her hair. Kira shrieked in pain.

"Shut up!" Greer turned to the side and shoved Kira against the wall directly to his right before turning to his left and slammed her against that one. A gasp escaped Kira's mouth, her eyes squeezing shut even further.

Finally, Kira opened her mouth and allowed a cry out, "Stop! Stop it! You're hurting me!"

"Tough. I'm just giving you a little bit of discipline." Greer continued to walk down the hallway, stopping to punch Kira every now and then. Whether it as on purpose or an accident Kira wasn't sure, but the next thing she knew she was tumbling head over heels down the stairs, striking each step as she went.

Finally landing in a heap at the bottom, Kira started to shake. The tears she held back finally escaped from their prison and fell down her cheeks. Then she was roughly turned onto her back and Greer reached down, wrapping his hands around her neck, squeezing hard. Choking, Kira struggled to reach up and push her father off her but he continued to increase the pressure on her.

The edges of her vision began to darken.

"Kira!"

She felt the strength in her arms start to give way.

"Kira!"

Kira's arms fell to the ground and she continued to look up at her father through her tears.

"Kira, come on!"

All of a sudden the image in front of her shifted. Her father was gone and in its place was Nightmare. A vine was wrapped tightly around her neck, tightening by the second. Nightmare watched her for a moment before he let out a loud whiney, the sound spearing into Kira's skull. It reared back on its hind legs then suddenly jolted down towards her once more.

Just as the hooves were about to land on her chest, Kira was suddenly grabbed by the shoulders and lifted up into a sitting position as she gasped loudly. Air rushed back into her lungs and she looked over to find Trent with his arm wrapped around her shoulders, looking into her face in concern. "Kira."

"What…?" Kira's eyes shifted.

She was sitting on the front porch; Nightmare was in the yard with Conner and Ethan standing across from him on the front lawn. Bailey was on the other side of the porch, watching the two intently, turning back to Kira when she saw she had woken up.

"Kira!" Bailey hurried over and knelt down on Kira's other side, grabbing her hand. "Mate, are you okay?"

"What happened?" She asked.

Nightmare whinnied loudly, taking a few steps towards the rangers. "She managed to break through my spell. Mesogog isn't going to be too happy about this!" He turned and disappeared in an Invisiportal.

"He got away!" Ethan cried.

Conner flung out his arm as an alarm started to go off on his communicator. "That's okay. It looks like we're needed back at the lab. Let's get going." He turned and watched as the sun peeked over the horizon, shaking his head.

"That brings a whole other meaning to the term 'All-Nighter'," Ethan remarked, watching the growing sunrise as well. He pursed his lips. "I didn't realize so much time has passed."

"Yeah, neither did I," Conner agreed. He started towards his car then stopped when he spotted Kira sitting up on the porch. "Kira, are you okay?"

Kira jumped when her name was called and she turned back to her friends. It took a second but she managed to give them a disarming smile and nod. "Yeah, I'm fine. I think. What happened?"

"We were all attacked by that monster," Bailey explained. She looked pointedly at Trent then back to Kira. The look in her eye let her know she would say more once Trent was gone. "I guess it's something we'll have to get used to now. Trent, what's wrong?"

Kira turned aside and noticed Trent appeared to be swaying on the spot, eyes falling closed very few seconds. Then he shook his head, bringing a hand up to his forehead. Kira reached out to grab onto his arm but he suddenly stabilized once more, shaking his head.

"Dude, don't tell me you're still being affected by that thing, too," Conner said.

At those words Trent suddenly backed away from Kira. He stood up, shaking his head. "No, I just got dizzy all of a sudden. I'm okay."

"I'm okay, too." Kira pressed her hands against the porch and got to her feet. She brought a hand up through her hair, noticing the concerned looks turned her way. "I promise. I'm okay. But what was that?"

"One minute we're looking at the horse, the next minute I'm waking up again," Ethan explained. Then he exchanged a glance with Conner, letting Kira know there was something else they needed to say as well.

"I don't know about you guys, but I should get going," Trent said. He slowly stood up, resting his hands on his knees. "My dad…he'll be worried…" As soon as the words came out his cell phone started to ring. Trent reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He half smiled. "See what I mean?" He turned and stared down the porch.

"One of us can give you a ride back," Ethan offered.

"My driver will get me, I'll just walk down to the bus stop or whatever," Trent said quickly. As much as Kira wanted to insist she drive him back to his place, she couldn't move. She was still a little weak from her nightmare, still trembling from its aftermath. She had no means of being able to drive yet.

"What happened?" She asked once he was out of ear shot.

"You've been out for a while. Like, once we were all attacked you were the only one who was knocked out as long as you were. The rest of us came to pretty quickly." Conner ran a hand through his hair. "Ethan and I fought him the best we could but without being able to morph it was hard."

"We couldn't get into contact with Tommy either," Bailey added. "Or Av or Trini or Zack."

"What? Why?"

"We don't know. But we need to check it out." Bailey stood up, bringing Kira with her. Then she brushed off the seat of her pants before turning her attention to Conner. "We should get going before your parents wake up and see that we're gone, yeah? I reckon it shouldn't take too long to talk to the others."

"Don't worry about my parents," Conner reassured her. "They'd be happy to think that we're going to school early to get some more studying in. If anything, this is my silver lining. Let's go."

* * *

"Dad?"

Trent practically stumbled through the front door of his home, trying to stay up. His vision swam as he continued his forward path. A large yawn escaped his lips. He could barely keep his eyes open. The next thing he knew, Anton Mercer hurried from his office at the sound of his son's voice.

"Trent." He grabbed onto his son as soon as he reached him. He half helped, half dragged Trent over to the couch, gently laying him down. "Trent are you okay? I knew it was a bad idea to let you go out tonight. You know how you get when your flare ups come around."

"I'm fine, dad," Trent murmured, closing his eyes as he nestled into the couch. "I'm just a little tired. I promise, I'll be better once I get a little sleep."

"I'll get your medication, too," Anton said. He started to move from the room and then paused, glancing in the direction of his office. Trent followed Anton's gaze, noticing a white glow coming from the cracked door of the office. Anton sucked in a deep breath and suddenly steeled himself once more, turning back to his son. "The next time you want to go out like this we need to have a discussion. We can't have anything else happen."

Trent nodded as he slowly fell asleep.

* * *

 **A/N:** And now we know what Mesogog is up to! He's brought back the old villains; Zedd, Rita, Goldar, Scorpina, Rito, the Machine Empire, Divatox, etc. And I'm sooooo excited for this you guys. Like, you have no idea what I have planned and how (fingers crossed) I have things planned out.

I meant to have this chapter up on Thursday but some things came up and I also had to re-edit some things.

So there's a lot going on! Let me know what you guys think. I'll update again soon.

Thanks to **Ashley, brankel1, Adela, liziestrong, and SpecialK92** for reviewing. Thanks to **XoxMountainGirlxoX** for help with the idea of what's going on with Trent.

 **~Avalon**


	21. Chapter 21: Old Friends, New Dino Zord

**Chapter 21**

 _Old Friends, New Dino Zord_

* * *

Kimberly Ann Hart had been in the middle of her gymnastics class when she got the call. "Alright girls, let's try out the tumbling routine! And then we can take a break!" She blew a sharp, short blast into her whistle and watched as her gymnastics team did a series of cartwheels, flips, and back tucks along the springy floor.

Then there was a tap on her shoulder and she turned to find her assistant coach, Carla, standing next to her. "Hey, Kim, you've got a call in the office, it sounds really important."

Though curiosity piqued Kim's interest she glanced back towards her team. "Can it wait? I just need to finish this—"

"Kim, I promise I wouldn't bug you like this if it wasn't something serious," Carla insisted. She pushed her long, curly hair behind her shoulders. "I didn't get everything he said, but he said his name was Tommy and—"

That made Kimberly's blood freeze.

Tommy was the one who was calling her. She hadn't spoken to him since his parents' death when she tried to get in contact with him to give her condolences. When he didn't call her back she figured it was probably due to his grief and she wasn't so worried. But to call out of the blue like this and the fact that it wasn't her cell phone he was contacting her through but her office phone meant it was very serious.

It wasn't like she and Tommy never spoke. They called each other every now and then, even conversing through email and text when they had the time. But for something out of the blue like this…a chill ran down Kim's spine. Kimberly lifted her whistle once more and gave another short blast that echoed throughout the gymnasium.

"Okay girls, take a break! I've got a phone call I need to take but once I come back we'll get started on our routine for the competition," Kimberly said. She then turned to Carla, mind rapidly rolling through numerous scenarios that could be wrong. "Carla, could you get them started if I don't come back in time?"

"Sure thing, Kim," Carla said with a nod.

Kimberly nodded back then hurried into the office, where her phone sat on the desk top. Kimberly lowered herself down into her seat and let out a low breath before putting it up to her ear. "Hello? Tommy?"

"Kim? Yeah, it's me," Tommy replied. "How are things in Florida?"

"Things are great; my gymnastics team is working hard for their next competition." Kimberly leaned back and crossed her legs. "But I know that's not why you called. What's going on? Is everything okay over there?"

She could hear him take a deep breath before saying, "No, things are…things are actually getting pretty screwy over here. I know we haven't talked in a while but there's been a lot going on over here." And he explained everything that had been going on in Reefside since he first arrived to become a teacher. At that point Kimberly stopped him and demanded to know when he had become a teacher and when he had moved to Reefside. Then she listened quietly, her grip tightening on her phone as he moved towards the end of his story. She wondered if she was having a heart attack.

Rita and Zedd were back? It was impossible. They had been destroyed. She hadn't been there when the rangers had defeated Astronema and her fleet of monsters and others had been purified after Zordon's Power Tube had been destroyed by Andros. But she had seen the after effects; Angel Grove had reached and all time high with new residents pouring in and the rangers had received as much praise as ever.

"Are you sure about this?" Kimberly finally managed to breathe.

"I saw them with my own two eyes, Kim," Tommy said firmly. He sounded like he was in as much shock as Kimberly was. It must not have worn off yet. "I'm not kidding. This isn't the sort of thing I would joke about."

"Okay…" Kimberly licked her lips. She sat up straight and grabbed her date book before turning to her computer and started to rapidly type. She cradled her phone against her ear and her shoulder. "I'm looking up flights now; I think I can be there by Friday." Another thought then struck her. "Did you get in contact with any of the others?"

"Trini and Zack were already out here—"

"Zack's there?" Kimberly couldn't keep the shock out of her voice. "I haven't heard from him in forever. And Trini's there, too? What about Jason and Billy?"

"I've called them too; I've got into contact with a lot of other teams as well. The only one I haven't been able to speak to is Andros but who knows where he is in the galaxy right now." Despite the seriousness of the conversation topic she could hear Tommy sounded a little amused at the space voyaging that one of the newer red rangers managed to do on a daily basis.

"When do you think everyone will be there?" Kimberly was already planning how much time she'd need off work, how many people she'd need to cover her shifts, if she needed her communicator….

As soon as the thought moved through her head she became a little sad. It had been so long since her communicator beeped letting her know there was something who needed the rangers' help or if there was someone trying to get in touch with her. Sure, having email and everything had to be more convenient but she missed the thrill of her heart thudding with excitement when the familiar beeping reached her ears.

"I don't know, I still have to get in touch with Jason and Billy. Though you know how difficult it's been to get in touch with either of them lately."

"Yeah… I know that feeling very well. Please remind me to yell at them the next time I see them."

Tommy laughed a little.

The two bid goodbye to each other then hung up the phone. Kimberly immediately flipped through her date book to block off a few days at least for the trip to Reefside. Then she grabbed it, her phone, her wallet, and her keys before hurrying out of office and over to Clara.

"Is everything okay?" Clara asked, seeing her coming.

"Yeah, but…I have to get going," Kimberly said apologetically. She ran a hand over her hair, twisting the end of her ponytail around her fingers. "There's a bit of an emergency and I need to get out to California as soon as possible so I need to take the next couple of days off. Do you think you can handle the girls for me?"

"Of course, Kim," Carla said, her eyebrows lowering in concern. "I just hope everything's okay."

"Everything's fine, but something came up that I can't miss. I'm getting the next flight out and I really need to go out and get some packing done." Kimberly made sure not to add out loud, _Plus, I need to know how many of the others are coming too._

* * *

Jason noticed his phone ringing as soon as he stepped through the front door of his apartment. Dropping his motorcycle helmet to the ground he strode to the kitchen and watched for a moment as the phone stopped ringing. Picking it up he glanced at the screen, eyes widening when he saw how many calls he missed. Jason then jumped when it started ringing once more.

 _What the hell?_ Bracing himself, Jason picked up and held the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Jase? Man, it's Tommy! Finally I've got a hold of you, I've been calling all day," Tommy said almost in one breath.

Jason's shoulders slumped with relief. Not just with relief but also with guilt, weighing him down a little bit. It really had been a long time since he had spoken to his old friends. It wasn't like he had tried to avoid everyone, but he had become so busy. Not only did he have his own martial arts dojo to run but he was consistently traveling around doing expos for charity as well as for others who were looking to get into martial arts. Just this past week he had been in New York and with the time differences and how many hours he worked he forgot to get back to some of them.

As a matter of fact he couldn't remember the last time he had a day to himself let alone to catch up with his friends. Probably not since the red ranger space mission the year before. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that, I've just been really busy with the dojo and everything." He then noticed a sound in the background, recognizing it as Tommy's pacing.

Tommy only paced when he was dealing with a big problem.

"What's going on, man?"

"You're not going to believe me," Tommy warned him. Then he took a deep breath. "I'll give you the short version; there's a new team of rangers out here who are going against this guy named Mesogog."

"Mesogog, huh?" Jason lamented. "That's an interesting name."

"He's an interesting guy. Anyway, he has two henchmen by his side named Elsa and Zeltrax and I guess he thought there wasn't enough people to work with him because he brought back some old monsters."

The sudden shift in Tommy's tone, to one that sounded much like resignation made Jason take pause. He was afraid of what that meant. _Brought back some old monsters…?_ There were plenty to think of due to so many ranger teams that had come and gone over the years. But this had to be important. "What sort of monsters?"

"Imagine your worst nightmare."

His worst nightmare…?

Jason swallowed hard, pressing his lips together. There were only a few monsters he would legitimately be horrified to know could come back. When Zordon's powerful wave shot over the Earth he thought all of it had been over. But now… "Rita?"

"And Zedd, and Goldar, and Rito…"

Jason's heart dropped to his feet. " _All_ of them?"

"And even more. Jase, we need you out here."

"Is this another Forever Red mission?"

"Something bigger than that. When can you get here? I'll fill everyone in then."

"I'll be there as soon as I can." Jason started to smile a little as he turned towards the calendar that sat on the refrigerator, a date on the calendar already circled. "Actually, I was already planning on going out to Reefside to meet up with someone. I'll see you there, man."

"See you. And Jase?"

"Yeah?"

"Hurry."

* * *

"So it's Rita, Zedd, Goldar, Scorpina…"

"Everyone we've ever gone against, yeah," Tommy said with a slow nod. He turned away from the computer the rangers were crowded around and shook his head before resting his hand over his mouth. Honestly, he was at a loss of words.

It had been about a week since Mesogog revealed what he had been working on to the rangers and he was still as shocked and worried then as he was now. The last week had been filled with fights between the rangers, Elsa, and Zeltrax along with the new monsters they continued to crank out. Tommy felt a little bit better knowing he had been able to get in contact with his friends to come out to Reefside to get a handle on everything.

Still, that wasn't going to be enough. The team was currently having trouble hanging on to what was being thrown their way so far. Every day Tommy could see how tired the rangers were becoming; they sat quietly in class, nearly falling over as they tried to stay awake. Even Bailey, who enjoyed school more than he thought was possible sat quietly in class, her chin in her hand as she kept quiet, only speaking when she was spoke to.

And as other teachers were mentioning they weren't as lively as usual throughout their classes. Not only that but even Trent was having trouble in his class when he showed up. He vaguely remembered Trent giving him a doctor's note that warned him it was going to happen from time to time but he wondered if it had more to do with the attack by Nightmere more than any pre-existing condition.

Hayley turned in her chair to face him. "And from the way you're speaking I'm assuming they're bad news."

"Even worse than Mesogog, if that's possible," Tommy said. He shook his head before closing his eyes. Was it possible? Rita and Zedd seemed to be mindless jokers as time went on, seeming to have lost their drive to destroy the rangers as time went on. Mesogog, on the other hand, sent out Elsa and Zeltrax as much as possible, and proved that he was more competent than anything else.

"Well, if our calculations are correct there won't be much longer until we have another Zord on our side," Hayley pointed out, hoping to calm him down a little bit. She nodded her head towards her computer as it continued to scan all of Reefside. "Not to mention it's bound to hatch soon."

"And we'll need to get to it before Mesogog gets his claws on it," Tommy agreed. He finally opened his eyes once more, resting his hands on his stomach. "Who knows how much he's been watching us, by now he already knows of the other Dino Zord eggs we've opened and has to be after more of them. Whomever is behind him knew about the Tyrannodrones' blue prints and created them. Who knows what other information they have."

Hayley bobbed her head back and forth. "Probably everything you'd be afraid to fall into the wrong hands," she pointed out. Tommy gave an exasperated sigh and she continued with, "Look, we thought all of that stuff went down with the island explosion but now we have to face the consequences. I mean, they didn't have the blueprints behind our design of the morpehrs."

"That's true," Tommy agreed.

"And I think you're losing faith in some of my ideas," Hayley continued. "Especially in terms of what it is the rangers can really do."

With that, Tommy closed his eyes once more. Then he sat up straight and turned so that he faced Hayley head on. "I'm sorry, Hayley, I don't meant to criticize. I'm just worried about what it is that Mesogog wants to do with these guys. I mean, this is Rita and Zedd we're talking about. If you knew them like I did, you'd understand why it's so weird."

Hayley's lips pulled back into a smirk. "I've seen your video diary _and_ studied their attack patterns while we were both working on the morpher and the new Dino Powers. I think I get it."

The two turned back to her computer as it suddenly started to beep rapidly. Hayley glanced down at the keyboard for a second then started typing rapidly. "Looks like we've got some Tyrannodrones attacking down at the beach." There was another beeping sound and she shifted to a different screen. "It looks like I'm locking onto the Dino Zord Egg there as well."

Pushing back his chair, Tommy got to his feet. "Alright, I'm on my way there."

"Don't you think we should call the others?" Hayley reminded him.

"They deserve some rest. If it's anything I can't handle, then send in the others," Tommy explained. "Bailey and Av are already at the beach, they can give me backup." With that, he pulled up his arm. "Dino Thunder, Power up!"

* * *

 **A/N:** I'm back after a long and well needed break. There's been so much going on these past couple of weeks good and bad and I just needed some time to myself, you know. Anyway, I hope this update after a while away was worth the wait for you guys despite it being so short.

Please remember to review, I'm serious about my writing and my stories, and if you have anything to comment about or anything to mention or anything to say, I would love to hear it and it motivates me to write more. I respond to every review I get even if it's anonymous.

Thanks to **lizziestrong, Adela, Ashley, and brankel1** for reviewing.

Thanks to **XoxMountainGirlxoX** for help with the idea of what's going on with Trent.

 **~Avalon**


	22. Chapter 22: Purple Heart

**Chapter 22**

 _Purple Heart_

* * *

"Has anyone seen Trent?"

"That seems to be the question of the day, mate," Bailey remarked, turning towards Kira as she joined her, Ethan, and Conner at the table in the Cyberspace café. She tilted her head in Conner's direction. "He just asked the same thing a few minutes ago."

"Yeah, only because we need to put the finishing touches on this stupid thing," Conner remarked. He rapidly tapped his pen on the notebook in front of him. "He's been out of school half the week, _again_!"

"He just hasn't been feeling well," Kira defended him. She sat down with the group and started to pull out her yellow and black school supplies. Flipping her hair over her shoulder Bailey noticed a dark splotch on Kira's collarbone, of which was poking out of her shirt. She lifted her gaze to Kira's eyes as her hair settled back into place and Kira took that opportunity to lean down and search through her backpack once more.

Ethan's eyebrows rose. He crossed his arms, leaning against the table. "And how do you know that?"

"He told me. I called to ask if he planned on meeting up today, especially after he hasn't been in school and he told me he's been sick."

A snort escaped Conner's lips. "I don't think there's anything that could make someone _this_ sick."

"There's no need to be jealous," Ethan pointed out.

Now Conner gave him a bewildered look. "What would I have to be jealous about?"

Bailey held up her hands before any of them could start in a fight once more. "Okay, guys, knock it off. We've already done enough fighting of Tyrannodrones and Elsa and Zeltrax within the last week. We don't need to start fighting amongst ourselves, yeah?" She pointed at Conner then at his notebook. "And keep reading; you need to get a good grade on this stuff, don't you?"

"Fine." Conner slumped forward and got back to work.

Running her hands through her hair, Bailey sighed as she took out her Advanced Math book and flipped to the homework that had been assigned. _You'd think after all of the attacks we'd get at least some time off, _she thought. Still, she had been around rangers and ranger duties long enough to know that people thought continuing to live their lives was the better way to react to a monster or footmen coming through and destroying things. One thing she could say about Reefside was that they did a great job with relief effort amongst those who may have been affected by collapsing buildings and damaged roads. The government had really made good on their promise to increase budgets for monster and alien attacks.

Bailey became so entranced in her work that she barely noticed when Trent came into the café, hurrying towards the back counter to relieve Hayley of her work. At least, not until Kira perked up, her eyes shifting over to the counter. Bailey, Ethan, and Conner all noticed her sudden change in demeanor and looked over as Trent tied an apron around his waist and moved to get to work. He pressed his hands against the side of the counter and bowed his head, closing his eyes.

"Is he…praying?" Bailey asked.

"I don't know. What _I'm_ wondering is how he's managed to get to work but hasn't been able to get any school work done," Conner said. He then paused, eyebrows coming together. "You don't think it has to do with being attacked by Nightmare do you?"

Bailey pressed her lips together. "Hard to say, mate. It's not like we can say it was a trick when we all saw what happened." She ran ah and through her hair. "Especially with all of these other monsters that have been sent out now." She shook her head. It was still hard to believe that Rita and Zedd were back again. When she was told she felt her heart stop before falling to her feet. All of that hard work to defeat and destroy them…and the new and improved happy life Rita and Zedd enjoyed had been torn away.

They weren't the only victims of the monsters' return.

"And since then there've been nothing but more of these attacks. If anything he may be avoiding _us_ rather than avoiding the monsters," Ethan added. He cleared his throat and lowered his voice as well, when Cassidy and Devon walked by with camera equipment over their shoulders. "So maybe he knows we're the power rangers."

"I doubt it," Kira snored. "He has a better chance of knowing it than those two do." She tilted her head towards Cassidy and Devon. "And you know how they can be. They're so inept at everything half the time that I'm surprised they can even function."

Cassidy paused as she started by the table then turned back to Kira, narrowing her eyes. "You know, Kira, I find it funny that you always act like you're so above everyone else but in actuality you're no different from everyone else."

"Cass, come on," Devon said. He grabbed her arm, trying to pull her away. "We have work to do."

Kira, who smiled at Cassidy's statement, leaned back in her seat. "Well, it's better to be like everyone else to be so snooty and uptight that they feel the need to be the best at everything."

"Uh guys," Ethan tried to break in. "Maybe we should just—"

But Cassidy wasn't deterred by Kira's jab. If anything it just spurned her on even further. "It's better than being a nobody. Because that's what you are. A nothing, a nobody, an insignificant blip on anyone's radar." She tilted her head over towards Trent, who had finally opened his eyes and got to work. "Not even a guy like that would want you."

Kira's smile faded and a strange look appeared in her eyes.

"Cass, let's go!" With that, Devon grabbed her arm even tighter and dragged her away from the table as Cassidy shot a haughty glance over her shoulder as she went. Devon, on the other hand, shot them an apologetic look.

Bailey let out a low whistle. "I've seen some bad run-ins before, yeah? But that was a bloody train wreck," She commented.

"I can't believe you used to be friends with her," Conner added.

Kira turned her sharp glance onto him. "I can't believe _you_ dated her."

Conner seemed taken aback as Ethan's eyes widened and Bailey's mouth dropped. She turned to Conner, her eyebrows rising. "You used to _date_ her?" She looked at Cassidy who seemed to be berating Devon as he calmly set up their film equipment. "Cassidy?"

She seriously didn't expect that. Not that she knew Conner better than anyone she had met once moving to Reefside but she at least thought she knew the type of girl he went after. The cheerleader, the popular girl, the partier. So maybe she wasn't the kind of girl he would've gone out with but she at least thought he had some taste.

Startled, Bailey sat up straight. Where had _that_ come from?

She turned her attention to Conner as he ran his hand through his hair. "I've dated a lot of people. It wasn't that serious anyway." He cleared his throat, sitting up when Trent walked over to the table and lifted his chin. "Hey man, you haven't been in school lately." He tapped his notebook. "We're finishing up."

"Would you cool it?" Kira asked.

Trent sighed, as if expecting the response. "That's what I came here to tell you. I know I haven't been in school much but I have been working on the project. I've got my part finished and it's in my backpack behind the counter. I can bring it to you guys one my shift is done." He ran a hand over his face, wiping away sweat that suddenly appeared on his forehead. "I haven't been feeling well lately."

"Is everything okay?" Ethan asked.

"Oh yeah, everything's fine. My immune system isn't the greatest and when I get sick it can keep me out of school for a while. So as long as I get my school work and everything it's fine."

"That's great," Kira said. She looked away as Trent turned her way with a smile, as if suddenly embarrassed. "I mean, that everything's okay. Art class has been pretty boring without you."

Bailey smiled as she saw the exchange. Then she frowned, realizing her heart beat started to increase. Out of happiness? Why would she be so happy that Kira was so obviously into Trent and he was obviously into her as well? _If judging by the way he keeps looking at her,_ she reminded herself. One quick look around the table showed that Ethan and Conner must've felt the same way; Ethan was smiling smugly and Conner looked amused but over it all at once.

"Thankfully I haven't fallen behind on that either," Trent said. "It's the only class I really like."

"Don't let Tommy hear you say that," Bailey reminded him.

Startled, Trent turned back to her. As if he had forgotten everyone else was there. "Not that I don't like Dr. O's class or anything." Bailey waved her hand to prove she didn't take any offense to what Trent had said. "Actually, I brought my sketch book if you wanted to see some of the things I've been working on lately," Trent offered to Kira.

She smiled and got up from her seat, going over to the table. Ethan, Conner, and Bailey all exchanged knowing glances before going back to their work. At least Conner and Bailey went back to their work, Ethan was soon sucked into a computer game that had been installed on the café's computers—as soon as a computer opened he was up and across the room, signing into the computer.

"So why is it that I'm the one that's stuck having to keep doing work?" Conner asked, resting his chin in his hand.

"Because you were the one who asked for the help," Bailey reminded him. "When you told me that your parents are always breathing down your neck about grades and everything."

"I didn't ask, you volunteered."

"Uh, no, you asked me. And I'm glad you help. Besides, your complaints are just the icing on the cake," Bailey teased.

Conner laughed. "Well, I have to pay you back somehow." He thought for a moment then snapped his fingers. He turned to her, eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. "Actually, we've got a soccer game coming up at school and I haven't seen you at one so far. Why don't you come watch and then we can hang out after or something."

Bailey grinned. "Sounds good to me." She looked at her phone as it started to buzz. She reached into her pocket just as Conner's communicator started to go off. The two looked at each other then over at Kira and Ethan, who stiffened as well. Then they were all moving, hurrying out of the café and to a secluded area before teleporting to their base. "What's going on?" She hurried over to Avalon and Hayley as they sat at their computer screens.

"A new Dino Zord egg," Hayley explained. She tore her gaze away from the computer screen that flashed images of the beach as well as what appeared to be a radar. She looked hopeful and worried at the same time. "But that's not all. It seems that Mesogog is finally making good on his promise."

"Yeah, check out what he's bringing down this time," Avalon added, motioning them over. Bailey, Ethan, Kira, and Conner hurried over to her side and watched the footage that replayed on her computer screen. "Remember this bloke?"

Bailey's mouth dropped open when she caught sight of Rito. The skeleton monster, the younger brother of Rita and the son of Master Vile, was racing back and forth across the beach, waving his sword overhead as innocent citizens raced away at top speed. On the other side of the beach Goldar was attacking as well, sending out strong blasts of power from his sword and eyes. Tyrannodrones ran around them, appearing to be searching for something.

"A golden monkey?" Kira asked, eyebrow rising as she watched the feed. "There are plenty of monsters that could've been made and they went with a golden _monkey_?"

"And what's that bag of bones supposed to do?" Ethan added.

"Don't underestimate these blokes. We've had to deal with them for years and every time we think they're done they come right back. They're more aggro than they look."Avalon twisted around in her seat before standing up .She crossed her arms. "Tommy's already down there to deal with these guys, but Bailey and I'll handle looking for the dino zord egg while you fend them off."

Conner cracked his knuckles, grinning. "Well, it's been a week since we've fought these guys and I've been waiting to stretch my legs again."

"So just go on a run," Ethan said. "If I had your abilities with speed I wouldn't bother driving to school every day."

"Driving isn't just for me; it's for the ladies, too."

"Oh please." Kira rolled her eyes. She turned back to Hayley. "Anything else we should know about these guys before we head down there?"

"Yeah," Hayley said. She turned in her seat to look the three rangers in the eye. "If Tommy, Avalon, and Bailey are all saying these guys are who you don't want to mess with, then take that warning seriously."

"You got it," Conner agreed. "You guys ready?"

"Ready!" Ethan and Kira replied.

"Dino Thunder, power up, ha!"

"Tricera!"

"Tyrano!"

"Ptera!"

The rangers, Avalon, and Bailey teleported down to the beach just as Tommy was thrown onto his back by a strong gust of wind from Goldar's wings. "Dr. O!" Conner called, hurrying over to him. He grasped his arm and pulled him. "Are you okay?"

"Nothing I haven't faced before," Tommy replied, turning back to Goldar and Rito. He clenched his hands into fists as the four rangers turned back to the monsters. Avalon and Bailey stood along with them, watching as the Tyrannodrones ran over to the monsters, waiting for their orders.

"You puny rangers are the same as always," Goldar called over to them, swinging his sword overhead. "Couldn't you choose different colors this time?"

"Sorry, Goldar, but it just means you're going to be defeated again!" Avalon called back.

"Ha! The last time we faced you it wasn't until your precious Zordon bit the bucket for us all to be taken down. He's not around to save you anymore," Rito declared.

"That just means we'll have to get creative!" Conner turned to Avalon and Bailey. "You go look for the egg, we'll take care of these guys!"

"Right!"

With that, Bailey and Avalon turned and started to run in the direction that Haley's scanning had last tracked onto the Dino Zord egg. They made it a few steps before Tyrannodrones leapt in front of them. Bailey, not breaking her stride, flipped herself over the extended arm of a Tyrannodrone and landed solidly on her feet. She turned around and started to throw out every move she had been taught through her martial arts training on Mesogog's footmen.

Starting with an open palm strike she moved into an elbow strike, a shoulder strike, and a roundhouse kick. That took care of the few immediately in front of her.

A blow to her stomach made her take a few steps back before another attack came from behind, knocking her forward onto her stomach. Then her arms were grabbed and she was lifted back onto her feet. Keeping her gaze on the Tyrannodrone in front of her, Bailey lifted her feet and dropped her weight downward. The sudden shift gave her the leverage to throw the Tyrannodrones forward and send them flying to the one directly in front of her. Then she knocked a few over with a judo sweep and flipped back onto her feet to start fighting once more.

Typical to her personality, Avalon went with a straight approach that showed her strength. She sent a strong punch to a Tyrannodrone's stomach and drove it backwards to the one behind it. Then she raced forward and leapt upwards, wrapping her legs around the neck of a Tyrannodrone and leaned backwards, bringing it to the ground face first. She rolled back onto her feet and leapt upwards once more, sticking her foot out and placed it on the chest of a Tyrannodrone. With the leverage to bounce off its chest she twisted her body and kicked two Tyrannodrones in the face before twisting to land on the ground in a crouch.

Finally the two managed to drive the Tyrannodrones away. They looked over to find Conner, Ethan, Kira, and Tommy still locked in battle with Goldar and Rito. Bailey shivered as she watched the fight. It was all too familiar going against the two. But to know there was something else out there that managed to bring them back, that had his own agenda in terms of taking over Reefside. Maybe even the world after that.

Then Bailey was attacked and once more she was brought back into the fight with the Tyrannodrones. Her eyes continued to search Mesogog's footmen as they attacked. "They don't have a far reach on their attacks; they have to stay up close to get their sense of power. But because they're partially from dinosaur DNA their skin protects them."

"Meaning we have to tire them out, yeah?" Avalon agreed. She bent low so that Bailey could roll across her back to take on some more. "I can do that."

Bailey was grabbed by the arms and thrown aside, landing on sharp rocks. Growling, she glared back at the Tyrannodrones. She started to push herself in their direction then stopped when a small glow caught her eye. Glancing over her shoulder she knelt down and pushed sand aside from the rocks. She dug for a few moments before finding the source of the glow.

A Dino Zord egg glowed peacefully in the small cave.

She grabbed onto it and backed away from the rocks, twisting around to call to Avalon, "I found the egg!"

All of a sudden Bailey was struck hard in the chest and she flew back onto the sand. Coughing, she looked up to find Goldar landing on the ground in front of her. He brandished his sword and pointed it directly at her. "Give me that egg!"

Bailey tucked the Dino Zord egg tight against her chest and ducked under Goldar's arm as he tried to strike her, his other hand grabbing for the egg. Trying to keep the egg safe she continued to throw it up into the air and duck an attack or use the moment to strike Goldar. As he backed away she used the time to catch the egg once more, cradling it gently so not to crack it.

He continued to swing his sword towards her and she shuffled back and forth to avoid being slashed, and then dove to the side.

"Bay, watch out!" Avalon cried.

Bailey looked up as Goldar flew her way. Then Avalon came out of nowhere, kicking him in the side of the head, knocking him off course that sent him crashing to the sound. "Thanks, sis," Bailey called to her.

"No worries," Avalon called back before running in to attack Goldar again.

Bailey gasped as the egg started to shake in her hand, twisting back and forth before it hatched in her hand. A tiny, purple zord filled her palm. Scrambling to her feet, Bailey looked down as a bright flash of purple light shielded her vision. Once it faded it moved to her right hand which was enclosed into a fist. Twisting her hand over, Bailey opened her palm and found a gem resting in her palm. _A Dino Gem,_ she thought. Then there was another flash and a morpher appeared on her wrist.

All of a sudden her view was clouded by a purple hue and she caught a quick glimpse of a purple dino zord roaring and punching the air. It faded as quickly as it came and Bailey grinned as the dino gem started to glow once more. "Let's see what this can do," she whispered. "Hey Goldar!"

Goldar spun her way after being kicked across the face by Avalon and glared at Bailey.

"You were saying before that we were the same as before, yeah?" Bailey dropped the pieces of the shell to the sand. "We may have the same colors but we've got different tricks up our sleeve!" She slapped the purple dino gem onto the silver band on her right wrist where it immediately fused with the piece of jewelry. "Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!"

In a brilliant flash of light Bailey morphed into the Dino Thunder Purple Ranger. "Cephala!"

"Oh no, not again!" Goldar cried.

"Cephala Club!" Bailey summoned her weapon and leapt forward, slashing Goldar with it. He cried out with each attack before falling back with Rito at his side, the Tyrannodrones disappearing via an Invisiportal.

"Wow, check it out!" Kira cried once she got a look at Bailey.

"A new ranger!" Ethan said.

"And a new zord!" Conner added.

"Don't think your new little toys are going to make it easier for you," Rito declared. With that a cloud opened above him and Goldar and they both grew in monstrous size.

"Looks like we've got a new friend," Tommy said. He moved to Bailey's side and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Use your telepathy and maintain control of that zord!"

"You got it!" Bailey said. She closed her eyes and merged minds with her zord, grinning beneath her helmet when she realized it worked. Then she, Ethan, Kira, and Conner leapt up into the cockpits of their zord as it came together. "Online!" She and her friends stated once the Thundersaurus Megazord came together.

"Let's see what this new zord can do," Conner said, bringing his hand into a fist. "It's all yours, Bay!"

Bailey pulled back her hand and thrust it forward. "Cephala Power Punch!" She cried with her new teammates.

The Thundersaurus Megazord landed in front of Goldar and Rito and gave it a swift beat down with the new Cephalazord arm attachment. Punches rained down upon Goldar's and Rito's head and chest, causing them to stumble back to safety.

"Now it's time to finish them off!" Conner continued.

"Dino Drill!"

The Thundersaurus Megazord surged forward and struck the two directly in the chest. Goldar and Rito fell back onto the ground and, kicking and screaming before they were summoned back into the sky. The rangers cheered at their victory and headed back to the base.

Bailey smiled and accepted the hug Avalon threw to her before being released and getting a nod of approval from Tommy. "You did a great job out there, Bay," he said. "Better than I've ever seen you fight."

"Yeah, you're almost as good as me, Goober," Avalon teased.

"Shut up, Booger," Bailey shot back.

"And now with a new zord on our side we have even more fire power to stop Mesogog and all of those other monsters," Kira agreed.

"Maybe, maybe not." Hayley got up from her computer and walked over to the group, crossing her arms. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news but we don't know what Mesogog is up to yet. What's he's done today could just be small potatoes compared to his big plan."

Ethan waved a hand. "We can handle it now that we've got the Cephalazord on our side."

Tommy pressed his lips together as he tried to hide a smile. "Soon we'll have more than that on our side."

"Really?" Conner's eyebrows rose. "What makes you say that?"

"Zack and Trini are at the airport picking up some old friends of ours," Avalon explained, motioning between herself, her brother, and her sister. "And they're going to be very helpful in this battle if we're going to be going against all of these monsters." She shrugged. "And besides, if we had to go through numerous power transformations before who knows what we need now."

* * *

"Now that Zordon's gone what is it that you need with the monsters you've brought back my lord?" Zeltrax stood with Elsa as they watched Mesogog pace back and forth.

The lizard monster sighed patiently and turned to face him. "Patience," he hissed. "Patience."

"But my lord, if the rangers ever find out about Zordon's power tube—"Elsa started but was silenced by Mesogog's mental attack, sending her and Zeltrax to their knees as they writhed in pain.

"Don't you worry about Zordon's power tube," Mesogog said, standing over them. He watched without much interest as they slowly lowered themselves until they were lying flat on the ground, continuing to hold their heads. "Right now we need to be prepared for all of these other rangers coming in to Reefside. We need to give them a warm welcome."

* * *

 **A/N:** Wow, 10 reviews for my last chapter! Thanks so much guys, it really does mean a lot and it really does make me smile. I'm glad you enjoyed the last one and thanks again **dguice** for your kind words of support. What do you think of Bailey being the Cephala ranger now? I was stuck between this and the Stego ranger and controlling the Stegozord but then decided on the Cephala because of the color. Also, let me know what you think of pacing and characterization or if you have anything to comment, mention, or say, I would love to hear it and it motivates me to write more.

Thanks to **LadyKeren, SpecialK92, lizziestrong, guest, dguice, Adela, brankel1, Ashley, TerraHart, and AliceLouiseVA123** for reviewing.

Thanks to **XoxMountainGirlxoX** for help with the idea of what's going on with Trent.

And if you haven't already, check out the latest one-shot I put in _Blue Burns Orange_ entitled 'Game'.

 **~Avalon**

 **Review Replies**

Guest: Ava and Eric are certainly an interesting pairing that I haven't thought of before. Thank you for the suggestion.

Adela: Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. The other original rangers will all be back together in the next chapter and then more will come in from there. We'll see what happens when Av sees them all again. ;)

Ashley: Glad you liked it! Thanks for reviewing!

TerraHart: I thought people would be excited to see the other and as for the plot I have in store they're not brought in too early.


	23. Chapter 23: Power Ranger Reunion

**Chapter 23**

 _Power Ranger Reunion_

* * *

 **Evie Caldwell is owned by MsStrange-Imagination.**

* * *

Avalon fell onto her back on the practice mat then rolled to the side as Conner tried to follow through with his flip. She got up to her knee and raised her hands, grabbing him by the ankle. Pushing hard, she flipped him over then turned to Kira and Ethan, who tried to come in on her unprotected side. But she ducked and rolled out of the way before flipping over their heads and kicked them in the chest, knocking the three to the ground.

Standing up straight, Avalon crossed her arms, cocking her head to the side. "You really have to try harder than that," She commented, looking down at the three as they tried to get up again.

"Well, it's not like we all know martial arts," Conner pointed out, wiping his palms on the legs of his sweats.

"Yeah, I mean, we're trying really hard here," Kira added. She got to her feet and helped Ethan up as well.

"It's not like we all have a background in martial arts," Ethan said. He started to stretch his arms. "See? I can barely get my arms stretched as far as my shoulder."

"That's just because you don't stretch, mate," Avalon remarked. "Other than that, I don't have a background in martial arts. I have a background in parkour and some other…areas. But not in gymnastics or martial arts. Any of my friends can vouch that for me. But I use my shortcomings to my advantage to make sure I can do all I can to stop whatever monster we're coming up against this time"

"That's what we've been trying to do!" Conner declared, eyes widening in indignation. "But you could still keep form being overpowered by Kira's Ptera Scream!"

Reaching up a finger, Avalon stuck it in her ear and wiggled it around. "I'm pretty sure I didn't come from that unscathed," She commented. Clearing her throat, Avalon closed her eyes for a long minute. "You're trying too hard. I get that you're starting to freak out because of Mesogog. But no ranger team has fallen before and I'm not going to let you fall now."

"Easy for you to say; your butt hasn't hit this mat one hundred times," Ethan mumbled.

Avalon pointed at him, then turned, bringing her hands up to rest atop her head. How wrong he was. Despite being able to overpower each of the rangers even with their use of powers over and over that day there had been many times they almost beat her. It was hard to keep her mind on her present situation. There was too much going on that was preoccupying her attention. The monsters she thought she and her friends had defeated were back and as alive than ever. Like a nightmare suddenly coming true.

Then there was Bailey getting power ranger powers again. She wasn't jealous or envious, though she did miss them herself. But she was worried. Bailey was her little sister and if there was a way for Avalon to be able to take away her pain or to keep her safe she would do it. Bailey, on the other hand, was nothing but incredibly excited about having her powers again. Avalon knew since she gave them up her Zeo powers that there was a chance Bailey, if being able to get it back, would jump at the chance. Despite her wanting to be a 'normal teen' for a while, being a ranger was in her heart and blood.

Just as much as it was in Avalon's.

There were many days where she watched the Dino Thunder team and wanted nothing more than to jump into the fight and defeat the monsters. However, she had no powers, no means to morph, and had to rely on her abilities to help out in the lab. It was…hard to say the least. Avalon was a woman of action, someone who took down putties long before she knew what they were and what they wanted. She had been on a ranger team since the very beginning; being on the other side was harder than she thought it would be.

If anything, she felt a little useless. Not that she hadn't learned more about a technical advisor and an accessory of the team because of Billy and Bailey's work since the beginning, even realizing she knew a lot more about science, zords, and how their weapons worked than she did before. Honestly she was starting to think she was either addicted to the adrenaline of being a ranger or that she had some form of PTSD she wasn't addressing.

It'd be the only reason why she continued to willingly meet up with Chase. Mostly because of her own suspicions, but also because she was curious to know how real he was being. That morning, when she had told Tommy she was going to the grocery store, she stopped by a diner to meet up with him. He had blown up her phone enough—despite the fact she had no idea how he had even gotten her number. When he arrived the intensity that was always in his eyes had mellowed out a little. He had even grown his hair out some since the last time she had seen him, when he abruptly left.

"What did you give me those brass knuckles for?" Avalon asked as soon as he sat down.

Chase looked at her for a long moment, stretching his legs out underneath the table. "Geez, don't even give a man a chance to order before you jump down his throat." He cleared his throat, resting his hands on his stomach. "I gave them to you because they're yours. If I remember correctly it was the weapon you used the most when you were with us."

Avalon made a humming sound in response. She looked over her shoulder, eyes darting around the street. She couldn't help it; Chase made her more nervous now than he ever did. _Probably because you don't ever know what he's up to,_ she thought. When in the Vipers he was very forthcoming with his ideas and things that he was going to do, but now…it was like he was watching her more than he ever.

"Are you still with them?" She finally asked.

That's what she wanted to know.

The only thing she cared about.

He was consistently in and out of jail as long as she knew him and now he was going to sit here and pretend like he didn't know what she was talking about or why she was even slightly worried to be around him? Nevertheless, Chase sat up straight and looked her in the eye.

"Are you a power ranger again?" He asked.

For a moment Avalon had been speechless. Yes, she was one of the people who was the worst at keeping the secret—after having to reveal herself to Bulk, Skull, and Lt. Stone, as well as her father and her half-sister finding out, and probably many others she hadn't thought of. But she hadn't thought Chase was smart enough to have figured it out. Then again…Zack did morph in front of Summer and Skye to help her out at one point, it probably wasn't hard to put two and two together.

"Your sudden change of allegiance was something I anticipated at some point," Chase said honestly. "But after the power rangers showed up and you started hanging out with those other guys was when I figured it out. I mean, it's not really hard, people don't just run off with a very thin excuse for no reason. Not to mention you were bruised from that more than what we've ever done and the High Flyers had been defunct for a while."

Avalon shook her head and looked away.

"And to answer your question, I'm working in construction, I'm off drugs, I don't drink…I'm not part of that lifestyle anymore," Chase said. Avalon didn't know if she believed him. "I spent a lot of time in prison and I've put my life on the line to explain everything that had gone on when we were in Angel Grove. I'm not going to screw that up again. I gave you those brass knuckles to make amends and to show you that I'm trying to put it behind me. Just like you have." He tilted his head. "I may do it in a different way than you do, but w all have our vices." He cleared his throat. "With this new team of rangers around I feel like I should be asking you that."

"Asking me what?" Avalon pressed.

"If you've managed to leave your past behind you?"

Avalon shook her head. The last thing she wanted to think about was that Chase had asked a good question and it managed to keep her wondering and worrying since then. Especially with Rita and Zedd being back. Honestly, she had no idea why she consistently kept meeting up with Chase a secret. (Of course she knew her friends would freak out about it and she didn't know how Conner, Kira, and Ethan would react to it as well. So far most of her friends had been surprised but they hadn't turned their back on her.

She didn't know these guys from a hole in the wall, who knew what they would think.

"And where's Bailey?" Conner asked, breaking Avalon from her thoughts. He lifted the bottom of his shirt to rub sweat from his face. Out of the corner of her eye Avalon noticed Kira glance at him, roll her eyes, and turn away…then pretend not to look once more. "She's a ranger now; shouldn't she be here to training along with us?"

"She should've been but if I know Bay as well as I do, she's spent too much time with me and decided to do what she wanted to do," Avalon said with a fond smile. She chuckled. "Chances are she went to the airport with Tommy. "She got a training session in this morning."

"If we're supposed to be a team then why aren't we working together?" Now it seemed like Conner was starting to whine and Kira and Ethan both rolled their eyes.

"You'd work together just fine if you manage to get here when you're supposed to get here." Avalon's eyes flashed, her temper already starting to flare.

She couldn't help it; while these guys were obviously very willing to fight for their home and for these powers but there were still things they needed to learn. Being on time was certainly one of them as having as much training was the best thing they could do at the moment. Otherwise, they were getting batter with on-field strategies and taking everything seriously.

She just hoped they wouldn't see the same sense or horror and destruction she and the rest of her friends had seen. Angel Grove had to be rebuilt time and time again, evacuation plans were put in place, and the population continued to fluctuate for years with people wanting to move there for its brotherly love feeling and others leaving before more monsters would attack. Then there were the lives that had been affected, some for the better; Bulk and Skull were certainly those that managed to have their lives change in ways no one ever thought was possible. Then there were those that changed for the worse.

Evie Caldwell immediately popped into Avalon's mind as she closed her eyes. The rangers hadn't known her long when she arrived on the scene as the first Zeo Gold Ranger. She was as outgoing as Rocky and as quiet and shy as Billy and with her short time she managed to fit the team very quickly. Then she told them the truth of her powers, that it was slowly killing her as it would for anyone who would take them over. She wanted to find a way to have her powers changed to someone else and use that time to figure out how to save the next person with those powers as well as to help the rangers take down the Seven Deadly Sins monsters that the Machine Empire had been sending out at the time.

Then there had been a particularly difficult battle and Evie didn't make it. They held a memorial service for her separate from her family as they couldn't risk anyone else knowing of her identity. But also because, as rangers, they all knew they were running the risk of it happening to them as well. Every day. It was a sobering experience but Avalon and her friends knew Evie would've given up her life to do it all over again.

That didn't mean it wasn't a painful memory.

"Sorry," Conner apologized. His face softened as he lowered his gaze to the floor. He placed his hands on his hips. "I'm just…a little stressed. I know I made this decision to join the team, but sometimes I wonder how much further this will keep going. And what's going to happen next?"

Avalon nodded. She understood perfectly. Taking a step forward she reached out and placed her hand on Conner's shoulder. "You have to remember that these powers chose you and they chose you for a reason. The Dino Gem bonded to you." She squeezed his shoulder and looked at Kira and Ethan to be sure she had their attention too. "I might be a little hard on you lot," she said. "But it's because I know you all have the potential to be great rangers and beacons of hope for the city."

"How do you handle that, though?" Ethan asked. "The pressure. To be the beacon of hope for the city."

"The same way you do for everything else," Avalon said. "By looking deep inside yourself and understanding that everything happens for a reason and you were chosen for that reason. But you have to remember to be human. We all make mistakes, we all do things we're not proud of, but as long as you can look at yourself in the mirror every day then it's worth it, yeah?" She chuckled. "Trust me. I'm probably the _last_ person you would ever expect to be a ranger if you look at my track record. But I've had some of the greatest people show me that I can overcome my past and be bigger and better than I thought I ever could be. You'll get there, the doubt is normal. It's easy. The hard part is making sure you can push through it."

Conner, Kira, and Ethan all nodded, taking in the words that Avalon said to her. She took a step back and paused, slowly starting to smile. It was something she was sure Zordon would have said to her and her friends at some point. Maybe being a mentor for this team was something she really could do.

 _They're not the only ones with doubts,_ she thought.

"Okay, let's change the subject a little bit, yeah?" Avalon finally said, using both of her hands to push her hair from her face. "I want to take you lot through the Zords to know when things are okay with them and when they're not."

Hayley, who had been sitting at her computer across the room, turned to face the rangers and Avalon. "But first you lot really need to work on your accuracy when it comes to fighting Mesagog's Tyrannodrones. And his monsters. The last few you barely managed to defeat if it wasn't for Tommy or Bailey."

Connor rolled his eyes. "You can't expect us to get the shot all the time," he defended himself.

"Yeah, I'm sure even the greatest marksmen would have missed every now and then," Ethan jumped in, defensively. "These monsters aren't as easy as their names would make you think."

"Yeah, the lamer the better," Kira teased.

"Those people aren't trying to save the world at the same time," Hayley said. She scratched the back of her neck, letting out a quiet sigh. She knew the rangers were going to be disappointed, having to do something they wouldn't find as entertaining compared to their martial arts training with Tommy and Bailey. "Which means today you're going to be doing target practice."

Silence filled the room for a moment before the rangers followed Hayley's gaze towards Avalon, who suddenly looked like she wanted to be anywhere but there.

Avalon's dark eyes rolled over to Hayley as she raised her eyebrows.

Hayley shrugged. "Hey, you know you're the best at it. Tommy told me to make sure they got target practice done today and as it is, I have to go into town." Hayley grabbed her bag up from the floor and slung it over her shoulders. "I'm meeting one of my partners from some projects I worked on at the university; he's coming in today and I told him I'd show him some things around here."

"Here?" Ethan's eyes widened in concern as he pointed to the floor. "Like _here_ , here?"

"Yeah, Hayley, I thought this whole thing was supposed to be a secret," Connor added. "I mean, that's what was shoved into our heads when we first started this." He reached out, tapping his fingertips on his dino morpher.

Hayley smirked. "Yes, well, this guy knows a lot about this sort of thing," she said. "So he'll help us a lot. I've already ran it by Tommy and he thinks it's a good idea." She then started to leave the lab, stopping to place her hand on Avalon's shoulder. "I'll leave them with you and hope that by the time I get back, they're better marksmen."

"Sure," Avalon agreed. "If we don't burn the place down first." Her smirk widened. "Remind me to kill my brother later."

"Sure."

Avalon ran a hand through her hair, letting out a low breath. It wasn't a problem really. She had hoped they could've left that to another day where she had Tommy's and Bailey's help to watch over each of them individually. But they had to do what was needed.

Avalon clapped her hands together, seeing there wasn't anything else to do but to get started. It was just as well, they still had their adrenaline up from their martial arts training, this would be the closest to working in the battlefield to a monster attacking at that very moment. "Let's get started." Avalon reached over to the computer and pressed a button on the wall.

A floor to ceiling wall slid up and the rangers ducked inside where a gun range had been set up. Instead of real guns, the rangers were using their blasters to hit the targets from varying distances. She motioned for the rangers to take their spots behind their morphers and stood off to the side to set up the targets that would fall down in front of them.

"We're going to start with the targets being the closest to you and then continue to get further and further away. I know the Tyrannodrones usually work in short range, but those boofheads will eventually see how we manage to beat them and compensate for it. You ready?"

"I'm _so_ ready!" Ethan declared. He grinned as he picked up his blaster and pointed it down the range. Conner and Kira picked up their blasters and pointed as well. "I bet I can get every one of them."

"Dream on," Conner replied. "Shooting takes athletic skill, something you seem to be lacking." He sniffed and closed one eye as he looked down the range. Avalon smiled and shook their heads. _Good, they bounce back fast,_ Avalon thought as she watched them. _They'll need it once things start to get worse._

"Sounds interesting," Kira said slowly. "Say…loser buys the others lunch?"

"You're on, babe," Conner agreed. Kira glared towards him and whipped her blaster his way. Conner immediately held his hands up and took a step back from her. "Kira. I mean, Kira. Sorry."

With a satisfied smile, Kira turned her attention back to the firing range.

"Are you ready?" Avalon called again.

Conner, Kira, and Ethan nodded.

Avalon pressed a button on the control panel that sat on the wall beside her. A loud ringing sound went off as targets flew into place. The rangers then immediately started to fire upon the target; wanting to be the best in terms of the bet, but also to make sure that when the time came they'd be able to take down the monsters that consistently attacked their city and livelihoods.

An hour later, Avalon stopped the target practice. She sent the latest targets back to the rangers and looked over them. "Not bad, though you could do better." She glanced over at Connor, whose targets had holes riddled in all areas. "I think you're forgetting you're trying to hit the center, mate."

"Hey, if this were a human body, I would have incapacitated him," Connor said.

"Ooh, incapacitated," Ethan teased. "Big word."

Kira pulled off her safety goggles and shook out her hair. "I think we did okay for our first try." She turned to Avalon and held out her goggles. "I hear you're supposed to be a really good shot," Kira said, leaning over to look at the orange ranger. "Why don't you show us how it's done?"

Avalon snorted. "No thanks." She'd done enough shooting of those things ages ago. It also didn't help that she had met up with Chase that morning and it was the first thing she flashed to as soon as Kira suggested it. Her paranoia started to take her over, wondering if they where she had been and if so, how. Or that, maybe, Chase's reach was further than she thought.

"Oh come on," Connor agreed. "I think, if anything, you need to put your money where your mouth is." Before Avalon could protest, he set up another target and handed her his blaster.

Avalon sighed and took it, getting into position. She lifted the blaster and focused on the target down the alley. She took a deep breath, curled her right hand over her left, and then started to squeeze the trigger, shooting beams of laser like energy down into the alley. She could see the target fly back each and every time it was struck with a beam. When the alarm sounded, she put the gun down and waited for the target to be brought back to her. Apart from a few that had hit the outside of the center circle—as she was getting used to the fire power from the blaster, she had managed to hit the target each time.

Avalon smiled as she put down the blaster, took off the headphones, and the safety glasses that went with it.

"I see your sense of accuracy hasn't diminished over time," Hayley said from behind her.

Avalon started to give her 'thanks' feeling really good about the shooting she had performed, then froze when another voice spoke up.

"Well, Avalon always was always the exemplary shot out of all of us. It's no doubt she's able to show off her talents."

She knew exactly who it was.

Avalon slowly placed the safety goggles on the counter and turned around to face Hayley and the man that stood beside her. He had his hands shoved into the front pockets of his jeans, shoulders slightly hunched towards her. As their eyes met, the corners of his mouth lifted into a smile, blue-green eyes lighting up at the same time.

For the minute that Avalon looked at Billy a plethora of emotions moved through her. The first was of sheer shock and surprise, having not seen him since he had left for the Peace Conference and then to his first year at MIT. How long ago was that now? Almost ten years. She hadn't seen him for ten years and yet he looked exactly how she thought he would. Then she felt angry; angry that he had gone those ten years without a word to her, without seeing her or any of their other friends, without reaching out to give hem updates. She knew people were busy as their lives went on, but after having experienced something like their ranger past together…Then she felt elation; unbridled happiness of seeing a friend she hadn't seen in a long time and realized how much she missed him.

"Billy," she finally managed to say.

"Hey, Av," he replied.

Avalon could see the hesitation in her eyes, but it relaxed the moment she crossed the room and squeezed him in a tight hug. Billy wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back, chuckling as he noticed she, like always, had to stand on her tip-toes to be able to hug him around his neck. Billy rested his chin on her shoulder as he hugged her.

Taking a step back, Avalon turned to Hayley, dropping her hands from Billy's shoulders. "He was the one you worked with?"

"On very few projects here and there," Hayley said with a nod. She brushed her red hair from her face. "Imagine my surprise when I found out that he knew Tommy, as well."

"Wait, you're Billy?" Ethan blurted out. "Billy Cranston?"

"I am." Billy held out his hand towards Ethan, who grabbed it and shook it firmly. "And you're the new ranger team that Tommy and Ava have been working with." He smiled at Avalon before turning it towards the three rangers. "Hayley's already filled me in on you guys."

"But you're Billy Cranston," Ethan repeated, still vigorously shaking Billy's hand. "Leading scientist from MIT. The first blue ranger! The first technical advisor. You worked on all of the zords. It's so great to meet you."

"It's good to meet you, too," Billy replied. He finally managed to remove his hand from Ethan's and shook Conner's and Kira's as well. Then he motioned over towards Avalon. "I hope she's been treating you better than she did the rest of us."

"I wasn't that bad," Avalon defended herself.

"You're right," Billy agreed. He turned and looked directly at her, their eyes locking. Avalon looked back at him, feeling something strange in the pit of her stomach. Finally, he turned back to the others. "So you're Conner and Kira? Now I understand what Tommy said when he said we'd see ourselves in you."

Conner, Kira, and Ethan exchanged confused glances but before any of them could say anything else, rapid footsteps came their way and Bailey blasted through the door of the lab. "Av! Av! Guess who's here!" She called. Then she got a good look at Billy and squealed loudly. "Billy!"

"Bailey, hey!" Billy laughed, stumbling back a little bit as Bailey launched herself at the former blue ranger and jumped onto him. He squeezed her tightly then dropped her once more. "Oh, it's so good to see you! Wow, you got so big!"

"Yep, I'm taller than Av now!" Bailey declared, beaming with pride.

"You're not less annoying, though, sis," Avalon replied with a half smile.

"Everyone's going to be so glad to see you," Bailey said. She grabbed onto Billy's wrist and started to drag him from the lab. "Come on, they're all upstairs! C'mon, Av!" Billy turned and looked at Avalon over his shoulder, raising his eyebrows.

Avalon looked away but followed them upstairs. As soon as she passed the threshold she spotted the other two visitors an, mimicking Bailey from before, let out a squeal. "Kim! Jase!" She hurried over to Kimberly and wrapped her arms around the pink ranger, rocking back and forth. Zack barely had the change to dance himself out of Avalon's way as the girls grabbed each other and rocked back and forth.

"It's so good to see you!" Kim declared, grabbing the sides of Avalon's face.

"Yeah," Jason agreed. He looked at Avalon for a moment before jokingly asking, "Did you get shorter?"

"Shut up." Avalon punched him on the arm and hugged him as well.

Then she took a step back and looked around at all of her friends. She couldn't help but smile. Different rangers with different lives, different lengths of tenure on the teams were gathered around. The original team of Jason, Trini, Zack, Kimberly, and Billy, the second team that added Tommy, then the third that added Avalon, and the fourth that added Bailey. Now there was a team of Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Bailey.

It had taken a long time for everyone to be in a room together again.

And she wouldn't change it for the world.

* * *

Rocky DeSantos lowered the umbrella he held over head and shook out the raindrops. They splattered against the ground and he brushed off the legs of his jeans before closing it and walking into the restaurant. He looked around for a few moments before he heard his name called. Grinning, he skirted around the tables and took long strides, reaching for Adam Park as he stood up from his seat.

Rocky immediately grabbed Adam in a tight hug, the two slapping each other on the back, before turning to Katherine Hillard to greet her, and Aisha Campbell last. Once all of their hugs and excited chatter were out of the way, they sat down and started to order their food.

Kat laughed as she heard Rocky ramble off his long order. "Good to know some things haven't changed," she remarked, shaking her head.

"Well, I have to get fueled up if we're going to Reefside soon," Rocky said. The conversation, though of a serious topic, stayed light. "Can't believe that we've being called in again."

"I never thought it would happen, honestly," Adam said. He laced his fingers together and rested his elbows atop the table, his chin on his hands. "I thought about it every now and then but since I helped the in Space team that one time…I tried to push it behind me."

"I know what you mean." Kat said. She tossed her ponytail over her shoulder and said, "You try to be normal and normal just goes flying out the window." The four laughed along with her. "Where's Tanya?"

"As busy as a famous singer can be," Adam said. He looked at his watch. "She said she'd try to be here but she's been really busy lately. Have you heard her song on the radio?"

"Of course!"

Rocky smiled and shook his head. Things were the same as they'd always been, he was glad to see none of their friends had changed. And while he thought, maybe, they were starting to get too old to go back into ranger business; the call was too great for them to ignore.

The door to the restaurant opened once more and Rocky looked up to find Tanya hurrying over to the table. "Girl, I need to sit down," She said, dropping into the empty seat at the head of the table. "I'll give you all a hug later, but I need some rest."

"Working hard, Tanya?" Rocky asked her.

"I've been slammed, but it's been rewarding." Tanya took off her coat then finally turned to grin at her friends. "I missed you guys so much."

"Well, it's getting kind of hard to miss you," Adam pointed out. "You're everywhere now."

"I know, it's kind of embarrassing."

"Don't be embarrassed. You're doing an amazing job on the radio airwaves." Kat gave an excited wiggle in her seat. "Everyone I work with talks about you all the time. The little ones keep asking what you're like and how long we've been friends…"

"Speaking of, what do you think?" Tanya asked, her smile fading a little bit. "About Rita and Zedd and them being back?"

Rocky shrugged. "If you ask me it means they didn't get the message the first time." He smiled. "That we're going to stop them no matter what."

* * *

Trent winced as he reached over and pulled the curtains shut, blocking out the sunlight that filtered in. His eyes could barely take the brightness, not to mention it made his already burning skin burn some more. Letting out a low sigh, Trent reached up to rub the back of his neck where a rash had appeared. He was starting to feel terrible again, it must've been another flare-up. All the signs were there, the aches, the pain, the sensitivity to light, the weakness, headaches, some weight loss, and he could barely move around.

Another day at home and another day where he had to come up with some other excuse that would keep the heat off him. There was only so much more time that he could continue to keep it a secret, but it wasn't anything anyone else needed to know. Not that his father would even let him speak about; he was so into their privacy that the mere mention of something told to him in confidence would have Anton looking at Trent as a major nuisance.

The empty house didn't help matters much either. "Dad?" Trent called. He picked up his sketchbook and took it with him as he moved towards his father's office. "Dad." He poked his head inside and found his father sitting in his office chair, looking at a book in his lap.

"You're looking for me?" Anton asked, turning Trent's way. Then his eyes lowered and Trent glanced at the sketchbook he held in his hand, chewing his lower lip as he moved it behind his back. "I thought we already discussed this," he said.

"You discussed it," Trent commented. "I didn't get a word into the conversation."

Anton sighed and closed his book with a low thump. He rested it in his lap then draped his hands atop it. He started to say something then stopped, bringing a hand up to his forehead where a thin line of sweat had appeared. "We'll finish this conversation later," he said. Getting to his feet, he left the office, walking at a brisk speed.

Trent sighed and pressed his sketch book to his side. He turned to leave as well when an Invisiportal appeared in front of him, sucking him inside. When he landed, Trent looked around the room, taking in the colorful beakers and bottles that sat on the tables and counters around him.

Then a white light caught his attention and he found himself drawn towards it. Peering at the source of the light, Trent reached out and grabbed onto it, a clear-like gem rested in his palm. Twisting it this way and that, Trent looked over it, taking a step back in surprise when the gem seemed to elongate and stretch onto his wrist.

All of a sudden his weakness went away,

The fatigue, the muscle aches, the nausea, was all gone.

With renewed strength, Trent smiled.

* * *

 **A/N:** Well, the original rangers are back together, other ranger teams are meeting up again, and we've got some stuff going on with Avalon.

I asked in a poll on my twitter if you like my stories (while being focused on Avalon) switches POVs or if you prefer it to be from Av's POV. The results were that it was split down the middle, so I'm going to try and do a bit more from Av's POV (like All To Blame was) while still doing other POVs. If that makes sense. What do you think?

Well, now that these guys are back together who knows what Mesogog has up his sleeve for them? I mean, I do, but you get it. ;) I'll have an update to _Beautiful Disaster_ soon.

Thanks to **AliciaLouiseVA123, lizziestrong, Duggie Davenport, SpecialK92, Adela, Ashley, brankel1, and Terra Hart** for reviewing.

 **Review Replies**

 **AliciaLouiseVA:** Thanks ,I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter!

 **Lizziestrong:** Well, the next one is up now, I hope you enjoyed it.

 **Duggie Davenport:** Glad you like it. Zordon should be coming up soon. Glad you liked the change for that the egg opened into the Cephala zord and that Bailey uses it as her new ranger power.

 **SpecialK92:** Thank you! I'm glad you like the addition.

 **Adela:** Billy isn't gay in this story. His and Avalon's relationship will be brought up as well as Tommy and Kim's.

 **Ashley:** Glad you liked it.

 **Brankel1:** Thanks!

 **TerraHart:** I'm glad you liked the change. I do agree there could've been a better buildup but I do like how it came out as well.

The idea of what's going on with Trent is credited to **xoXMountainGirlXox.**

 **~Av**


	24. Chapter 24: Making Plans

**Chapter 24**

 _Making Plans_

* * *

Avalon leaned back in her chair, laughing as Kimberly explained the story of one of the recent gymnastic competitions her team had competed in. She leaned forward, pulling her hair behind her ears to listen to the end of the story. All around them the restaurant was filled with others clinking their forks, knives, and glasses as they ate. The rangers had taken up a private corner of the restaurant and she was glad they had, knowing they were probably the loudest of anyone there.

As soon as they arrived they immediately fell back into their old ways as they exchanged stories of what had been going on in their lives. Kimberly and the Zack were the most outgoing, ready to explain all of the good things that had been going on, Trini and Billy were a little quieter, listening to the conversation, and Jason, Tommy, and Avalon were in the middle, talking and listening all the same.

"So then the little ones are all running up to me going, "'Miss. Kim, Miss. Kim! What if we fall off the bar'?" Kimberly smiled. "Keep in mind that this bar is barely five inches off the ground, but they're like little-little so to them it's a mountain. I reassure them everything's going to be fine." She started to laugh again. "And they go and one of the girls falls and _glomps_ onto the bar"—Kimberly makes a show of spreading her arms out wide then locking them over each other, hugging her shoulders—"and she's _screaming_ and crying at the top of her lungs begging for someone to get her off."

Everyone started laughing once more.

"It sounds like you're having a lot of fun with it," Tommy said, sitting directly from her right. Though he didn't have to look at her, Kimberly looked back at him as if he was the only thing she was seeing.

"Oh, it's so rewarding. To be honest, I was a little devastated when I won the Pan Globals…and shortly had to stop training after." She bobbed her head back and forth. "I mean, I always knew that my age was going to be a hinder, but being able to teach other girls how to do it, it's one of the best things I've ever done."

"Well, we didn't think you'd ever be able to do anything other than gymnastics without longing to go back to it," Trini said honestly. She reached across the table and squeezed Kimberly's hand. "I knew you were going to go far with gymnastics but this is amazing."

Kimberly then did fake bows. "Thank you, thank you. I know, I'm that good." She giggled, pushing her hair behind her ears. "But what about the rest of you guys? What have you been up to?" She picked up her Cosmopolitan and took a long sip. "I heard you opened up a gym?"

Trini nodded and nudged Jason, who sat at her side. "Yeah, Jase and I opened it last year. It's already doing better than we thought."

"I didn't know you opened it together," Zack remarked. The corner of his lips started to turn up as he looked back and forth between the two of them. "How'd that happen?" Avalon gave him a funny look and he looked back at her, his smile widening.

Avalon's stomach clenched and she glanced over at Jason, who suddenly looked uncomfortable. He cleared his throat and made a show of taking a long sip of water as Trini laughed quietly. "It's always something we've talked about. After coming back from Vietnam there wasn't much that I wanted to do other than continue traveling, but I didn't have the means. It's really expensive, you know? Though that's not to say that visiting my family as much as possible hasn't been rewarding."

Avalon held up a finger. "Remind me to call my mum."

"Why? Is she expecting it?" Billy asked.

"Probably. Considering I've been promising I would for the last three weeks and still haven't…" She shrugged. "Chances are she'll come find me before I find her so if you see a short, blonde, Australian woman running around looking for 'Cadence' tell me so I have ample time to hide."

Everyone laughed again.

"Sorry, Sunny, I interrupted your story."

"Well, it's like she said," Jason explained. He steepled his fingers. "She wasn't sure what she wanted to do next and I had plenty of time of my hands when not working on my martial arts training. So we got to talking about opening up a gym in Angel Grove, especially since the Juice Bar closed after Ernie…" Jason cleared his throat as the air around the table became somber.

It was hard enough when they lost Billy's mother to Rita, Evie to the Machine Empire's monsters and Zordon due to a sacrifice. Now people they had known were having their lives altered left and right just because of life. It was starting to get a little disconcerting.

"Well, there hasn't been anything like it and since the space as already been bought out, Trini and I thought it would be a good idea to bring something like that back into Angel Grove," Jason explained easily.

"So what's it looking like so far?" Tommy asked.

"It has the same ideas; the juice bar, the weight lifting machines, different areas for different forms of exercise. But the space is bigger so there are rooms specifically for dancing or martial arts; there are some that are for cycling, others that only have treadmills, others that have free weights. But the main area is open to whoever wants to use it for whatever reason." Jason shrugged. "And every now and then we reserve the space for expos and stuff."

Now Trini bobbed her head back and forth before saying, "Of course the money isn't as great as we'd like it to be. But it hasn't been open so long so there's plenty of time to bounce back. We're projected to make what we've invested back and some as time goes on. So I'm not worried."

"Sounds like something that'll be very helpful towards Angel Grove," Billy remarked. He had been sitting quietly throughout dinner, giving his two cents here and there. It wasn't so strange; Billy had always been introverted like that. "Unfortunately, even though all of the monster attacks have slowed down it hasn't done anything in terms of the economy for Angel Grove. There're more and more people moving out than there are moving in. It's seemed to have made admission for Angel Grove University stagnant as well."

"Is your dad having trouble with his classes?" Tommy asked. He ran his hand over his spiked hair before resting his hands atop his head. "Before they passed, my mom and dad said the same thing." He stopped for a moment, blinking rapidly. "That things in Angel Grove aren't the same as they used to be."

"No, it's not that," Billy said. He shook his head. "The classes are fine. It's the class _sizes_ that are the issue. The numbers are down and that affects his overall process for tenure, amongst other things."

Avalon's eyebrows came together. "David never told me that," She remarked. "The last time I called him anyway."

"He didn't tell me until I dragged it out of him." Billy shrugged. He reached out and started to pick at the napkin in front of him. "But that's just the way he's always been. He would rather not worry anyone about it." He cleared his throat and sat up straight. "But he and General Norquist have been talking a lot so at least he's not so alone. Not to mention he's become one of those parents that continuously send me links to articles about different scientific breakthroughs, not noticing that I've worked on half of them." He smiled as his friends laughed. "Or maybe he just doesn't remember."

"I bet he's still proud of you, Billy," Kimberly reassured him. "There's not many people who graduate early from high school and almost singlehandedly create a new source of power for us rangers to use, go to a Peace Conference, and work hard through MIT to get two degrees and still be as modest as you." Billy grinned as she added, "Trust me, I've met a lot of stage parents."

He shrugged.

"Okay, okay, we're done with this conversation," Zack broke in. He rubbed his hands together and almost gleeful look in his eye. "Now let's get to the part that _I'm_ interested in." His eyes scanned the table. "We may be older but we're still a group of attractive people so it begs me to ask, which ones of us are still single?" He held up his hand, looking around the table. Everyone else stared back at him with mixtures of looks, discomfort, confusion, and a 'it's-just-Zack-being-Zack'. Still he wasn't undeterred, being such a ladies' man in high school certainly hadn't been snuffed by his experiences in prison. "Come on, there has to be something I don't know. Who's single? Who isn't? I'm single."

Avalon lifted her finger. "I'm single," she said. She noticed Jason look at her for a split second before looking away.

"I'm single," Kimberly added.

That caused Avalon to raise an eyebrow and Jason to give a half smile. " _You're_ single? Don't think you've ever managed to go too long without a boyfriend, Pinkerbell."

"I have more important things to worry about, Av." Kimberly replied to her teasing remark by sticking out her tongue. That caused a light, albeit slightly nervous ripple to move around the table. Then Kimberly wiggled in her seat, tossing her napkin onto her finished plate. "Okay, so what about the rest of you? Single? Taken? Casually dating?"

"Well you know me, I have to beat the girls off with a stick," Zack joked.

"I don't have time to date," Tommy explained. "Between my teaching and my students and Conner, Kira, and Ethan I don't have much time for myself. Let alone working on my lesson plans and grading."

Zack then turned his attention back to Jason, Trini, and Billy, grinning like a shark. Dropping his hands to the table top he leaned towards the three, is eyes shining. "Well? I haven't heard anything from the peanut gallery and you all usually have something to say."

Billy cleared his throat once more. "I'm not seeing anyone significant at the moment," he said, in the intelligent way he usually phrased his sentences. "Nor am I taking so much time to myself in terms of being able to go out."

Avalon moved her lower jaw to the side and tried not to think about what that meant. He was very busy with his work, as he already said, and if he was anything like he had been before, nothing took his attention away from his work until his work was done. Not food—which she got on him a lot—not taking more than a ten minute break, not even sleep. There had been many times where she, Bailey, or his father had walked into his lab garage and didn't find him slumped over a bench sleeping.

Honestly, she wasn't exactly sure why she cared so much. On a realistic level she knew, but on a mental level of being twenty-six and not a teenager anymore…enough time had passed so that she should've been over it. A light flare of irritation and anger filled Avalon and she did her best not to let it show on her face.

"Well, that just leaves you two," Zack said. He looked pointedly at Jason and Trini, shifting his eyes back and forth as the quiet seconds passed. Then Kimberly noticed his look and started to grin as well.

Avalon chuckled; glad the attention was off her. If there was anything that was entertaining for them all, it was teasing each other with whom they were or were not dating. It seemed to be a past time and she was glad that despite the time that passed it was something still a part of Zack and Kimberly. Everyone was still the same and it was all she would want of seeing them again.

Trini smiled a little but didn't say anything. She always was pretty private; even before she started going out with Billy she was private with her feelings for him. It took Kimberly a while to drag it out of him and Billy was same on the flip-side, until Avalon figured it out.

Jason, however, grinned at his best friend and shook his head, knowing Zack wasn't going to give up until he got a satisfactory answer. Jason thought for a moment before saying. "The last relationship I had was with Emily, it didn't end very well. Understandably it ended, but not very well. At the moment I'm taking things kind of slow."

Zack started to say something else but was cut off by Tommy, who had looked at his phone with sudden urgency. The group of friends turned to him as he shook his head, then slid his phone back into his pocket. Leaning forward, he rested his head in his hands before leaning back, shaking his head.

"What's going on, man?" Jason asked. He sounded relieved for the conversation topic to have changed. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"With everything we've seen at this point, I think it would be great if I saw a ghost" Tommy said. He managed to laugh a little, throwing in a tiny half-smile. It added almost instantly. "That was Hayley. She told me there was a series of activities that was being followed by our computer system. But there hasn't been anything that's actually manifested after checking."

"You think it might be one of them?" Trini flipped her long hair over her shoulder. "That I might be Rito or something?"

"I'm not sure. I don't think any of them can move that fast," Tommy said. He tapped his fork on the table. "But she said there isn't anything she could track, either. As soon as she would come across a blip, it would move and another one would come up on the tracking system. I don't know what Mesogog is up to, bringing them back."

"Psychological warfare," Billy said, matter-of-fact. Almost as if he had just answered the question after someone had asked what the weather was outside. "They brought back some of the worst monsters we've ever faced, the enemies we've faced time and time again. The more they're around, the more affected we'll be."

"But we're not the rangers right now," Kimberly pointed out.

Trini shook her head. "It doesn't matter. It's like Billy said, they know the time we spent trying to defeat them. The time we had facing _all_ of them. And, I don't doubt your abilities as the new mentor, but I don't think they're ready to do it."

"They'll have to do the best they can until we figure out what we can do to help," Kimberly said. "That's the reason we came out here. To help them."

"Do you have any idea how to do that?" Avalon asked.

She crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat, suddenly very serious. The excitement of seeing all of her friends again was immediately extinguished by the reality that sat in front of them. They had to do something about these monsters, nip it in the bud before it became too much. It took them _years_ to figure out how to drive away Rita and Zedd and Goldar and Rito and Scorpina and the Machine Empire.

That wasn't entirely the truth though. They never completely defeated the monsters; they ran off or another faction came in. She wasn't there when Zedd usurped Rita, but then Rita and Zedd had been taken over by the Machine Empire, and the Machine Empire were the only ones they truly defeated after four continuous days of battle.

"I'm being bloody serious," Avalon continued. She reached out and tapped the table top with her fingertip. "Because they were suddenly brought back to life. Monsters we've defeated before and brought back and they can do that time and time again until we're all dead."

"I know," Tommy said, suddenly calm. Avalon faltered. She hadn't expected Tommy to agree with her so quickly. Then again, she hadn't expected to become so heated about what was going on, either. Tommy looked each of his friends in the eye. "That's why you're all going to have to trust me again. I know it's been a while but I need to know you have my back."

"Of course we do, man," Zack said.

"Yeah, we'd follow you into every battle, you know that," Jason agreed.

Kimberly's eyes narrowed as she studied her ex-boyfriend. He had always been confident, except for the few times his confidence had been shaken. But she had never seen him speak so calmly and deliberately slow before. He had to be thinking of something, something he wasn't entirely sure would work out but was willing to try.

"What's going on, Tommy?"

He took a deep breath as if to steady himself before saying, "The only way we're going to stop them…is if you get your powers back," Tommy said.

* * *

Kira closed her eyes, waiting for the sting of the slap to reach her cheek. Then she let out a long breath as the pain already started to subside. Opening her eyes, she looked over at her father as he backed to his spot at the kitchen table, tossing a soppy wet dishtowel to the ground.

"You're such a damn klutz, Kira! You can't do anything right," he hissed.

With a shaking hand, Kira reached out and grabbed onto the paper towel roll and started to clean up the milk she had accidentally spilled. It wasn't her fault, anyway. Her father had bumped her arm while she had been pouring the milk for his coffee. But of course he found fault with her and of course her mother had just sat at the other end of the table, reading the newspaper as if nothing happened.

Kira finished cleaning up the mess and threw everything away. She made sure things were in its place before picking up her backpack. Then her mother lifted her chin and stared hard at her. "And where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going to school," Kira replied.

"Your father has graciously decided to give you a ride today and you're going to walk?" Mrs. Ford shook her head. Kira rolled her eyes as her mother let out a short sigh, darting her eyes over to her husband. Then she steeled herself, waiting for another slap for the movement. When it didn't come she relaxed; able to get away with it this time. It wouldn't happen again; she knew that for sure. "Don't be ungrateful, Kira!"

Of course. Everything was her fault, again. Even when her mother was the one who sit by and let it happen.

"It's just that I have a lot of work to do," Kira said slowly, quietly. If she raised her voice she would certainly be disciplined for it. "School work and stuff and…and I need to get into the music room or someone else will get it and I won't be able to use it before my classes."

Mr. Ford shook his head. "You already spend too much time with your head in the clouds and plucking away at that useless guitar! You're not good enough for anything other than going to college. Stop wasting your time!"

Kira started to protest; started to say that she had a lot of talent. That she played in the Cyberspace café in front of a _real_ crowd singing the _real_ songs that she wrote. But she couldn't. If she did her guitar would be smashed, music sheets ripped to shreds, and she'd receive the beating of a lifetime. It's happened before and she wouldn't make that mistake again.

Instead Kira cleared her throat and said with a quivering voice, "I'm going to play the guitar and I'm going to get really good. I'll be great."

"You'll be dead if you don't listen to me," Mr. Ford insisted. Kira could see the muscles in his arms tense as the conversation progressed. "You will stop your music playing and focus on your school work! Your grades are already shit and they're not going to get worse."

Her grades were As and Bs. Maybe if she told them that she was doing that while juggling her time as a ranger they would be more understanding. Of course she couldn't say that. They wouldn't even care anyway. Kira turned to leave; she wasn't hungry, she wasn't going to sit with her parents, she wasn't going to pretend that everything between them was okay.

Reaching up her hand, Kira pressed her fingers to her eye. It stung and she was sure some of her skin had been opened up by the hit. She was probably going to have a black-eye too. Another sigh escaped her lips, that meant she as going to have to use the heavy duty eye make-up that day.

As she was in the bathroom, getting rid of the evidence, Kira's cell phone buzzed on the counter. She picked it up, eyebrows coming together when she saw Conner's ID show up. When was the last time he had called her? Years?

Tentatively, Kira answered and put it to her ear. "Hello?" She whispered in case her father was listening.

"Hey, we're on our way to pick you up," Conner said, practically screaming over the loud music playing in the car. She could hear Bailey chastise him and Ethan's laughter as the music suddenly turned down. "Sorry, I said we're on our way to pick you up."

"What?"

"Was the music that loud?"

"No, I just…" Kira shook her head. "Fine, I'll wait outside." She hung up her phone and checked herself in the mirror once more. Her makeup was okay; it completely covered the bruises that were starting to show. Her eyes watered a little bit, she could tell her eyelid was starting to swell. But she was going to have to suck it up.

Kira left her bathroom and hurried towards the front of the house calling, "My friend's giving me a ride, I'll see you later!" She raced out the front door before her father could question her. She skipped down the front steps, looking over her shoulder to make sure her father wasn't about to come running out after her.

Or maybe Tyrannodrones would attack. Her luck wasn't going great at the moment, it couldn't make it nay worse.

A beeping car horn grabbed her attention and Kira looked up as Conner pulled to the end of her driveway. Kira walked towards the front door but stopped, changing her direction when the back door opened for her. She slid into the backseat, shooting a grateful smile to Ethan then dropped her backpack to her feet.

"Hey Kira," Bailey greeted her, twisting around from the passenger seat. "I love your eye makeup, today!"

 _Just get punched in the face and you can do the same thing,_ Kira thought. Nevertheless she smiled back to her. "Thanks. And thanks for picking me up. Otherwise I'd have to go with my dad and he can be really…terrible company." _That's an understatement._

"Just get your license and you won't have to worry about it," Conner replied.

Kira snorted. "When would I have the time to study?"

"I can always run some things by you," Ethan offered. "The driver's test isn't hard. You just have to follow the lane and park and follow turn by turn. Not only that but there's no place to parallel park here so that won't be on the test."

"Wait." Bailey twisted around in her seat once more, her eyes narrowing as she locked eyes with Ethan. "Mate, you have your license? Then why do you have Conner driving you?"

"Because this car is a babe magnet," Conner replied. He grinned. "And no one would want to pass up that chance."

"Whatever!" Bailey laughed and shoved Conner on the arm.

"Boys," Kira replied.

Then she turned to look out the window, watching as the trees whipped by, moving so fast they blurred. Much like her life, everything blurred together it was moving so fast. One minute she was just starting to become a ranger, the next, all of the past rangers were suddenly in Reefside along with the monsters they had faced before. They arrived at school and Kira got out of the backseat, heading straight towards her locker.

She hadn't been lying when she said she needed to get some of her music work done; she hadn't touched it in a while and if there was anything that would get her through the day it was music. Leaving the others behind, she arrived at her locker, finding Trent at his, staring into space.

"Hey," She greeted him, instantly smiling. Hmm, that was weird. She hadn't been that happy in a while. Trent nodded towards her but didn't say anything else. So she tried again. "What's up?"

It took a long moment for Trent to respond. "Nothing," he finally mumbled. Reaching up a hand, Trent rubbed at the bridge of his nose. Then he straightened and turned towards her. "Everything's fine. I've just had a lot going on, you know?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Kira pushed her hair over her shoulders. Oh yeah, she knew what that was like. She constantly felt like she was drowning, school was the only time she was able to get her head above water. "Are you ready to present our project today?"

Trent started to nod then stopped, slowly rocking back and forth. Then he lurched forward, almost crashing into his locker. But at the last minute he shot out his hands and placed them on the cold, metal surface to keep himself upright.

"Whoa!" Kira leapt forward and pressed one hand against his stomach, the other against his back. "Are you okay?" She tilted her head and looked up at him. His face was ashen and he looked like he was about to pass out. "Trent?"

Finally, Trent shook his head. He regained a little strength and backed away from her. "No, I'm… I don't…" he let out a long sigh, bringing the heels of his palm up to rest against his forehead. "There's…I need to tell you something."

Kira's eyebrows rose and she took a step back to look up at him. "Is everything okay?"

There was a long silence that stretched between them and as the seconds passed Kira's heartbeat started to increase. It thudded painfully against her ribcage, just as it had done earlier that morning, but for a completely different reason. She didn't know what to think. Was he about to tell her something important? Maybe something about her…? They hadn't hung out a lot but when they did…she felt something for him. She at least smiled a lot when he was around, the smile lasting long until something else occupied her mind.

She was starting to like him.

"I have lupus," Trent said in a low voice.

Kira's eyes widened. She looked away then looked back at him. What?

Trent continued to face away from her as Kira tried to come to grips with it. Lupus. She didn't know much about the disease but she knew it was a bad one. One of her mother's friends suffered from Lupus, she remembered talking about it. She got tired easily, couldn't go out into sunlight as much, had chronic pain…

It was no wonder he was always running late and making excuses for things. He had to be nothing short of tired. Probably more tired than she, Conner, Bailey, and Ethan had given him credit for. All of a sudden, Kira felt really guilty for the way he had been treated.

"I'm sorry," she finally managed to say.

Waving his hand, Trent dismissed her apology. "It's nothing to be sorry about I've been…I've been dealing with it for a while." He managed to give a small smile. "Actually, I found something that really helps." He shook his head and turned back to her, bringing his left hand up to cover his right hand. "But what are you doing here so early?"

"Oh, I, uh, wanted to get to the music room."

"Have you been working on some new stuff?"

"Yeah, I'm trying to bring in some piano stuff now .So I wanted to get to it before someone else could use it." She looked him over then started to say something. A burst of laughter caught her attention and Kira looked over her shoulder to find her friends coming their way. Her eyes locked with Conner's as he looked at the two of them curiously. Suddenly strengthened, Kira turned back to Trent. "Did you…did you want to come listen to some stuff?"

"Sure. I mean, if you can spare some time."

"Come on."

They went to the music room, Kira could feel Conner still watching her as they went.

* * *

 **A/N:** I know I need to stop apologizing for slow updates but I can't help it. I'm sorry. A lot has been going on. Good thing though.

So as this story continues to move forward I think I'm going to split chapters in half of the older rangers being one part and the younger rangers being another part. What do you think about that? I think it'd help with the pacing a bit. But the older rangers are getting their powers back? What?! Also, with romance being the second genre on the story do you want the relationship to be addressed more often or do you like the pacing so far?

I'll have an update to _Ready When You Are_ updated again soon. I'm back on my Tuesday/Friday update kicks.

The idea of Trent having Lupus is credited to **xoXMountainGirlXox.** Thank you for letting me use the idea.

 **~Av**


	25. Chapter 25: White Thunder (1)

**Chapter 25**

 _White Thunder (1)_

* * *

Mesogog landed in his laboratory from an invisiportal opening. He looked around for a few moments, grateful to see that those bumbling nuisances weren't there. No, they were already going off to fulfill their part of the plan. The sooner it got started, the better. The Power Rangers wouldn't know what hit them. So far they haven't shown anything psychologically from seeing their old enemies again but it was only a matter of time. Especially with everything planned this time.

Mesogog continued to walk through his base, yellow eyes shifting back and forth over the walls and floors. Everything he worked hard for. Then his eyes landed on the open cells, the ones he had kept the rangers in when they had been captured the first time. No matter, there was always something else that could be done. There were always back up plans to back up plans and considering the help he had, there was always something else that needed to be done.

"What was the last contact you had with her, Zeltrax?" Mesogog asked. He walked into the main area of the lab and looked at his right hand man, who scrambled to get into place. Zeltrax nodded to Mesogog as he walked by. Mesogog started to pace the floor, dragging his long cape behind him.

For a few tense moments Mesogog paced back and forth while Zeltrax waited quietly for him to say something else. Anything else. But when he saw Mesogog was waiting for his response he took a step forward.

"Elsa was nearing the drop site, my lord," Zeltrax said. His voice was low and rumbling, waiting for Mesogog's response. "She should be there in a moment."

"She better be," Mesogog commented. "Because if there's anything we need to do to keep them from catching on, so that we can get the rest of the monsters spread out as far as we can, she needs to hold up her part." He turned to look at the empty spot on display behind them. Where the White Dino Gem had been before. "We have kept our prize well hidden from Dr. Oliver for over a year. The time to go toe to toe with the mighty rangers is at hand. Nothing must interfere."

Zeltrax nodded. "And we will do everything in our power to ensure it does not."

"Of course you will."

Mesogog's eyes narrowed. He was still furious over the White Dino Gem having been taken so easily. Where he, Elsa, and Zeltrax had been preoccupied with everything else that they hadn't noticed whomever it was go in and take it. He felt it was something that was a detriment to their plan at first but now he saw how it could be helpful.

Zeltrax turned to Mesogog's means of watching the rangers as the screen shifted to show Elsa walking through a forest area. She came up to statues of prehistoric creatures and smirked at the three before holding out her hand, releasing a beam of energy. The rock cracked open, sending smoke and pebbles up into the air. Then she turned and started to destroy the rest of the statues.

If this didn't get the rangers' attention she didn't know what would.

* * *

Avalon frowned as she looked at the computer reading in front of her, turning to Hayley as she did so. "Did you see that?" She asked.

Hayley nodded, her fingers quickly moving over her keyboard. "Looks like an energy spike." She shook her head, her re hair swishing around as she did so. "I'm sort of glad that it came up now, I was just about to go open the Cyberspace."

"Do you think it's an energy reading we should be worried about?" Avalon tucked some hair behind her ear. Her eyebrows came together as she navigated her computer to the reading. She typed a few minutes, trying to bring up the specific latitude and longitude coordinates but found it hard to completely lock onto. "Hm, that answered it itself, yeah? Not being able to lock on is always ominous."

"Exactly what I was thinking," Hayley agreed. "I'll contact Tommy; see what he has to say."

"No reason to bother him while he's at school, I can do it," Avalon suggested. She pushed back her seat and glanced at the screen once more. The energy output continued to be steady. It wouldn't take too long for Hayley to lock onto it and give her an idea of how to get there. "I'll get Zack to come with. And one of the others can probably go, too. Now that we're talking about being able to get our old powers back they're up for anything."

Hayley slowly lowered her hands from her keyboard. She cleared her throat. "Do you think that's possible?"

"To get them back?"

Hayley nodded.

"You're the one who graduated from MIT, mate, not me. I reckon you'd be the one who'd be able to tell me that." But Avalon was trying not to get her hopes up despite the thrill of excitement that had moved through her body when she heard Tommy's suggestion. It made sense in a way; if their old enemies were able to come back maybe their old powers could come back as well.

As it was, the Zeo Powers weren't even destroyed, just…lost. And the Zeo Crystals were strong, growing stronger as the days passed. If they could at least get the Zeo Powers again, then they'd have the opportunity to destroy all of them. But that was a problem all on its own; they had become obsolete once they changed to the Turbo Powers. As a matter of fact, Avalon didn't know what happened to the Zeo Powers once the Turbo powers came into play. One minute she was in Divatox's submarine helping Jason and Kimberly as they tried to escape, the next thing she knew her morpher stopped working.

Not that the Turbo powers weren't cool…Billy had really outdone himself with them. But as time went on and new ranger teams came up, the idea of being able to morph became further and further from mind.

"Besides, you and Tommy singlehandedly created the Dino Powers because of the threat of the work Tommy and Mercer had before their lab explosion," Avalon added.

"Yes, but you have to think about it like this," Hayley said slowly. "Tommy and I created these powers, but something out _there_ ,"—she lifted her gaze towards the sky—"created the ones you started with. And even before that. He told me about your trip to Phaedos and how the Azurite Healiodore helped you all obtain your Ninja Ranger powers. Things like that, there has to be something out there that created them all. Maybe if we find that, we can find a way to get your powers back."

 _She's got a point,_ Avalon thought as she nodded. It seemed so long ago when she started as a power ranger, after initially not wanting to do it. But there had been plenty of things that showed her it was the best decision she could've made. Still, none of them truly stopped to think about what it was that made them rangers in the first place and if there was anything else that could help once they were done. Even Adam had managed to morph after their run as Mighty Morphin' Rangers ended.

"Well, maybe we'll figure it out once we see what this energy reading is, yeah?" Avalon gave a teasing smile. "This might be a comet that fell down from space with a new power source."

"You never know," Hayley agreed. "I'll work on getting you those exact coordinates."

"Ace." Avalon left the lab and went up to the main level of the Oliver house. She looked around the living room as she passed through it, finding the pull out couch already set back. Zack was awake, that was good. Hopefully he wasn't out looking for jobs yet. Though she also hoped he would. It couldn't have been easy to know that he was going to be looked at funny because of his convictions.

Hopefully this venture would take his mind off that, too.

"Hey Zack?"

"I'm in the kitchen!" Zack called back.

 _Of course,_ Avalon thought. _Should've followed the music that was playing first._ She grinned, following it. It was good to know not a lot had changed since the years passed. She went into the kitchen, finding Zack sitting on the counter next to a sink filled with soapy water and dishes. A large cereal bowl rested in his hands.

"What's up?" He asked, bobbing along to the music.

"Do you want to go search out an energy source?" Avalon asked.

Zack grinned. "Hey, if we're back in action you know I'll never pass up the chance to kick some butt." He tapped the communicator that sat around his wrist as if to prove it. "Let's go."

Avalon took the spare keys to Tommy's jeep from the cabinet—after he left the car for her that day—and she and Zack immediately climbed inside. "Did you get anything, Hayley?" She said into her communicator. One of the biggest surprises the rangers had after their dinner was when Tommy suggested they go back to the lab to see what they could still do.

Their communicators still worked in terms of being able to teleport and talk to each other, but their morphers still didn't work. It had taken a bit of tweaking, but Billy—with the help of Hayley, Trini, and Bailey—updated the Dino Rangers' morphers for enhanced communication and teleportation capabilities as well.

"I've got a complete lock-on. It looks like Elsa is up to some trouble," Hayley replied.

"We can handle that. I'll keep you posted."

Avalon drove to the coordinates Hayley fed to them, slamming her foot on the brakes when a blast of energy came up in front of her. Turning the steering wheel to the side, the jeep skidded to a stop, causing Zack to cry out in surprise, slamming his hand onto the armrests to keep himself from flying forward.

"Looks like these guys like to get an early start," Zack commented as the two scrambled to get out.

"Oh, you have no idea," Avalon replied.

The two scrambled out of the jeep and hurried over to Elsa, who turned their way, pointing a sword towards them. Her eyes widened to an almost manic state. "And you used to be power rangers? Can't say I'm too impressed. Your response time is really slow."An Invisiportal opened, releasing a horde of Tyrannodrones around her.

"Should've known it was a trap," Zack commented. "We're not _that_ old to forget."

Avalon grinned. "Who're you calling old?"

"Let's see how you can handle things now," Elsa declared. She raced forward, swinging her sword over her head and letting out a rebellious cry. Avalon and Zack raced back towards her, with Zack moving to take on the Tyrannodrones and Avalon to hold off Elsa.

Avalon ducked out of the way of Elsa's swinging sword and sent a strong kick to her stomach, knocking her backwards. Elsa hissed and turned back her way and Avalon blindsided her with a strong back-kick, knocking her sword out of hand. Elsa watched it slam into the ground, blade first, then turned back to Avalon, her eyes blazing with fury. Then they were locked in battle once more, arms and legs flying as they attacked and blocked each other. Elsa struck out and kneed Avalon in the stomach, causing her to hunch over. Once she was down, Elsa grabbed her head to hold her down, and then moved behind her, pulling her arms behind her back.

Avalon cried out in pain and stumbled forward as Elsa sent a strong kick to her back, sending her flying forward. Flipping over onto her back, Avalon lifted her legs and brought herself back up in a kip-up. Elsa reacted slowly, not expecting Avalon to get up so quickly, giving Avalon the chance to do a strong high-kick to the underside of her jaw. Avalon heard Elsa's teeth click together from the strength of the blow before she was knocked onto her back.

Elsa stood up and drew her arm across her chin where blood was starting to dribble out. "Let's see if you can handle this!" She declared. Another Invisiportal opened up, releasing a horde of putties and Scorpina.

"Aw come on, man!" Zack cried when he saw them. He brought a hand to his stomach, breathing a little heavily when he saw them. "You'd think they would've gotten the message the first time!"

Elsa smirked and used an invisiportal to go back to Mesogog's lair.

"We're good but we're going to need some help," Avalon said to Zack.

"You read my mind," Zack replied. He brought his communicator up to his mouth. "Guys, its Zack. We've got a problem here with the putties and Scorpina. We could use your help."

"You got it, Zack. We're on our way," Jason replied.

In a few seconds white teleportation lights streaked through the sky as Jason, Kimberly, Billy, and Trini landed on the ground with them. They took stock of the situation and immediately split up with Jason and Zack working to take on Scorpina while Kimberly, Trini, Billy, and Avalon worked on the Tyrannodrones and Putties.

No matter how much time had passed the rangers still worked on their natural fighting styles to defeat the enemies. Kimberly used flips and cartwheels to take on the putties. The Tyrannodrones were a little bit harder to take on, not having been against them before, found their claws to be difficult to avoid. Still, her agility and grace continued to aid her in battle.

Trini used her tactic of strength in her own body to take on the putties. With solid blocks she managed to give herself openings to take them down, striking them in the Z-plate time and time again. She moved through her motions with grace and water like fluidity which helped her into the next move, finishing with strong kicks and punches.

Billy, having not seen the Tyrannodrones before, took the time to watch as they came close to him, studying their patterns of movement. Much like actual dinosaurs they were heavy handed on one side, swinging their heads back and forth to get a good view of him while coming around him in a pack. His eyes shifted back and forth as he watched them for a moment then moved forward in martial arts punches and kicks. His strength had confidence in his fighting had certainly improved over the years and he executed them well when the Tyrannodrones came close enough to strike.

Zack used his hip-hop kido to bring Scorpina out towards him, leaving her open for Jason's straight forward, skilled martial art training to shine through. The two worked together to keep Scorpina's sword out of the way, and using her opening to strike. With Scorpina's fury distracting her they took her down pretty quickly. But as soon as she was cornered she was taken back to Mesogog's lair through an Invisiportal along with the putties and tyrannodrones.

"Whoa!" Jason cried, tilting his head to follow the movement.

"What was that?" Kimberly asked. She shielded her face with a hand along her eyebrows. "They just disappeared."

"Right into thin air," Billy agreed. He rested his hands on his hips. "I don't think I've seen anything like it before."

"They used an Invisiportal," Avalon explained. She pointed with her chin in the direction they had just been. "Mesogog uses them to get his monsters and henchmen anywhere in the city he wants. So far we've only managed to find one, one that led directly to his lair. I reckon there are more that do that, but we haven't found them."

"They're called _Invisi_ portals for a reason," Zack pointed out.

Jason nodded. "That's something we should look into," he said. "To see if we can map them. If Rita, Divatox, and the Machine Empire are around, they're definitely going to use this to their advantage." His eyes shifted to the hole that Elsa had created in the ground as well as the strewn pieces of statue that had been there before. "And whatever was here."

"This must be where the energy reading was coming from," Zack said.

Avalon explained to the others the energy reading that she and Hayley found in the area. Then she asked Hayley to send down a scanner. Avalon held out her hand and the scanner was teleported down. She held it above the opening in the ground and moved it back and forth as the machine made beeping and humming sounds. After a minute Avalon frowned and lowered the reader, looking at the hole once more.

"So what does it say?" Kimberly asked. She wiped sweat from her forehead, pulling her hand down her cheek.

"The reading is really high," Avalon reported. "It reads much like the power output from the Dino Gems inside the other's morphers."

"So you're saying it's another gem?" Trini asked.

"Not for sure, but it seems like it."

Billy stepped up to Avalon's side and held his hand over the machine to get a better look. He hummed and took a step back, rubbing his lips together. "It _is_ comparable to the energy readings I got while looking over the Dino Morphers. But this output is peculiarly dissimilar." He rubbed his chin. "Much like there's an unusual kind of power source to it or that it may have come from a different locale entirely." He snapped his fingers. "Like the Ankylosaurus morpher. I saw a similar thing back then."

"But…but the Ankylosaurus morpher…whomever had it was the one who got the power," Kimberly pointed out. "So whoever was good had the powers for good and whoever was evil could…use it for evil." Trini nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, it's why we were trying to keep it away from Rita and Zedd before Bay got a hold of it," Zack said.

Billy pressed his lips together. "Exactly."

* * *

Ethan took a deep breath to steel himself. He backed away from his locker and closed the door, turning to look over his shoulder as he did so. Nothing on the left, nothing on the right. Everyone seemed to be preoccupied with getting their things sorted out before going to their activities period.

Shoulders sagging in relief, Ethan backed away and started towards the classroom that held the computer club. Dividing his time between that and gaming club was a struggle every now and then but being the president of the computer club was good for his college applications. Not to mention the different things he learned about computers through it. So his prank on the school's grounds with the sprinklers going off didn't work out so well. And maybe he made it a bit too obvious he was the one that did it by traipsing around with an umbrella overhead.

But if the senior class was going to pull off an amazing prank at the end of the year he needed to get started.

Ethan turned the corner down the technology hall and crashed into a solid chest. He backed up a few paces and gulped, realizing it was Derrick he had run into. Ethan gulped and took another step back so that he wasn't tilting his head back to look at him. His eyes shifted as Derrick snarled and clenched his hands into fists.

"Why don't you watch where you're going, geek?" Derrick reached out his hands and shoved Ethan hard in the chest. Ethan took a few steps back, trying to keep his balance. Then Derrick stepped forward and shoved him again. "You faggot! It's like you can't keep away from me."

Ethan held up his hands. "Look, Derrick, I don't want to start anything."

"Too late, you already did," Derrick shot back. He grabbed Ethan by the collar and roughly pulled him forward so that he was in his face. "Where are you headed in such a hurry anyway? Your dweeb club?" He pushed Ethan away once more.

Ethan brought his hand up to his neck, feeling it throb. He took a few deep breaths, turning away from Derrick. The idea of using his powers to fend him off shot through his mind. He did his best to push them away, despite how much he wanted to do it. He couldn't use his powers to start or end a fight. But if he couldn't use his words, what could he use? Derrick was huge and he was…a nobody.

"Computer club," Ethan muttered in response. "Not like I expect you to remember, idiot."

Derrick's nostrils flared. "What did you call me?" He demanded, getting in Ethan's face. Ethan's shoulders moved up to his ears as he turned away. How pathetic. He was one of the ones who were working to save the city and here he was unable to stand up to the school bully.

"Uh…nothing," Ethan replied. He cleared his throat. "I-I didn't say anything."

"You better not have!" Derrick reached out and flicked Ethan hard on the forehead. Then he reached out his hand and pushed him in the nose. "Or I'd have to rearrange your face!" Derrick pushed Ethan until he slammed into the row of lockers behind him. His back exploded in pain as a handle of a locker struck him right in the spine.

"Ow!" Ethan reached up to push Derrick's hand away. The movement wasn't the best option as Derrick took it as a sign of aggression.

Derrick grabbed Ethan by the back of the neck, pressing his fingertips into the pressure points until Ethan cried out in pain. Then he fell to his knees when Derrick punched him hard in the stomach. Stars exploded in front of Ethan's eyes as he struggled to bring in a breath. Ragged breathing filled his ears and he fell to his knees. He flinched out of the way as Derrick kicked at the lockers beside him before walking away.

Lifting his gaze, Ethan still struggled to breathe. He looked around the hallways, hoping for someone to help him. To say something. But no one spared him a second glance. They hallways were pretty empty as it was. But no one was going to stand up to Derrick. He had been sent to the principal's office—before the Principal was Randall—time and time again with no repercussions. And he was doing his best to stay away from Randall as everyone else was.

Groaning, Ethan got to his feet just as his morpher started to blare. Now Ethan let out a heavy sigh. He looked around to make sure no one was watching him. Still, there were too many people in the hallway; he needed to find a better place to go.

Pulling his backpack up over his shoulder, Ethan hurried back up the hall and moved towards the front office. He turned the corner and found Conner, Kira, and Bailey already heading out the doors. "Hey, wait up!" He called after them before hurrying over, pressing a hand to his stomach.

The muscles burned as he breathed in and out, rubbing to soothe the pain from Derrick's punch. "What's going on?" He finally asked as they made it outside and rounded the nearest corner, out of sight.

"Monster's out downtown," Conner explained quickly.

"Yeah, just got the message from Hayley," Bailey added. She looked over her shoulder, leaning out from behind the concrete wall as she did so. "Tommy said he'd meet up with us later if he gets the chance."

"Must be hard to be a teacher and still work as a ranger," Kira pointed out with a half smile. "I mean, try having to explain to the other teachers that you're a ranger."

"I'm sorry Principal Randall, I can't go to your _riveting_ lecture on why you're better than everyone else, I'm too busy saving the world," Conner joked. Their morphers blinged again and the rangers immediately turned serious. "Ready?"

"Ready!"

"Dino Thunder, Power up! Ha!"

The four morphed and teleported down to where the monster was waiting for them. But instead of immediately fighting against them, it turned back and forth, as if looking for something. Ethan took the time to study the monster; it looked like an overgrown sunflower with eyes all across its stomach. He turned and exchanged a glance with Conner.

"Is there something we can help you with?" Conner finally asked.

The monster turned their way and pointed towards them, moving down the line of rangers. "Red, Blue, Yellow, and Purple. Nope!" The monster waved its hands back and forth. "I'm looking for something I basic white."

"White?" Ethan repeated. Kira and Bailey made sounds of confusion as well. But before there was any explanation to be given there was a sudden flash of light. The monster before them was violently battered back and forth by a white blur. As soon as it started, it was over with the monster being ripped apart, its parts flying around before being blowing up.

Ethan blinked rapidly. Did he really see that? The monster jerked back and forth and was suddenly gone. _That's_ what he saw. At least, he thought so. Ethan licked his lips, finding his voice long enough to say, "you guys saw that right?'

"Yeah, mate," Bailey agreed. "And we're still trying to figure out what it was exactly."

"Here's your answer." The White Dino Ranger declared, suddenly appearing in front of them in a crouched position. He slowly stood up and turned to face them, giving Ethan time to eye his suit. It looked exactly like is suit, but with a shield across the shoulders, and black spikes running along the arms and legs.

"What? Another ranger?" Kira blurted. "But…who is that?"

"Never saw him before," Conner said. He started to take a few steps forward. "But we're going to find out." He waved his hand and Ethan nodded before stepping out behind him. Kira and Bailey hesitated a moment before following behind them as well.

The White Ranger held up his hand to stop them. "Don't come any closer," it said voice deep and ominous. A chill ran down Ethan's spine, but he continued towards him. "Or you'll force me to do something I don't want to do."

"What do you mean by that?" Conner demanded.

Ethan closed his eyes. He knew Conner could be a dumb jock sometimes, but not _that_ dumb. Challenging the ranger like that was like him talking back to Derrick. Like poking an angry bear with a stick. And just what he thought would happen, happened.

"White Drago Sword." The White Ranger lifted a sword from its sheath and started to swipe it through the air. With each swipe an arrow appeared in the air, glowing bright white as the seconds passed. "Laser Arrows. Fire!"

The rangers cried out as the arrows shot through the air at the speed of light and struck the rangers in the chests of their suits. The blasts of the arrows were burning liquid pain across their bodies as the force of the blow threw them to the ground. Ethan felt himself fall head over heels until he landed on his back on the ground.

He groaned, rolling onto his side, forcing himself back to his feet. "Was that really necessary?" he managed to grunt.

"That was just a warning!"

The White Dino Ranger lifted his sword once more and charged towards the rangers. He made quick work of them, blasting through each other as if they were a small speed bump in his way. But with each hit they worked their way back in front of him to do it all over again. Ethan backed away as he was knocked aside another time and waited to catch his breath. He watched as Bailey fought back against the White Ranger, fairing a little bit better from her experience as a ranger, but ultimately falling as well. Conner grabbed onto her before she hit the ground and spun the two out to the side, dodging another one of his blows.

"It's a good thing you've got the speed or else we would've been dust," Bailey said. She nodded her thanks, holding onto his arm as the two crouched on the ground.

"You're telling me. I don't think I've seen anyone move so fast."

Ethan brought his finger up to the side of his helmet, creating the link of communication between them and the base. "Hayley, Av, do you have anything on the identity of this guy?" He asked.

"Nothing," Hayley replied. She let out an exasperated breath before the sounds of rapid-fire typing filled his ears. "I can't get a good tracker on the DNA the gem bonded with. But you need to keep him preoccupied as long as you can."

"We'll do our best, Hayley," Kira said. "But we can't make any promises. This guy is stronger than we thought. Whoa!" She dove out of the way as another attack headed her way. It struck a nearby car, etching deep scratches into the side. "That was close!"

"And I've only just started," The White Ranger said.

He charged forward once more and. And once again swept the floor with the rangers, barely giving them the chance to get to their feet before they were knocked back down once more. _Derrick's starting to look like a Care Bear compared to this guy,_ Ethan thought as he found himself staring at the sky once more. He sat up just in time for another blast of the laser arrows to fly towards him.

"Not today!" Tommy, already morphed, flew through the air and landed on the ground in front of the rangers. He held up his Brachio Staff and twisted it to the side, deflecting the lasers as he did so. Still, the White Ranger was undeterred, it took some more effort but Tommy was eventually defeated as well.

He was back on his feet within seconds. "What do you want with us?"

"All you need to know right now is that there are five rangers too many," The White Ranger said with a careless shrug. Then he turned and pointed his sword directly at the center of Tommy's helmet. "And I'm going to change that."

Conner got to his feet and bravely took a step forward. "Oh yeah?" He taunted. "Go for it."

The same thing happened again. The Rangers fought as hard as they could but the White Ranger was just too strong, just too fast. Every time he moved it was as if he was moving at warp speed, becoming flashes of light that bounced around in front of them. It happened every time Ethan blinked, like a time lapse video of motion-stop animation.

But Ethan was tired of being defeated. They had to stop this ranger now, defeat him, get answers and figure out who he or she was and where he or she came from. He clenched his hands into fists. "You think we're just going to walk away? Not going to happen." He turned to Kira, who stood at his side, her hands clenched into fists as well. Her chest heaved up and down from effort to keep going. They looked at each other and nodded, racing for the white ranger once more.

"Stop!" Tommy called after them. "We don't know what he's capable of. He might not have powers we know how to deal with."

Ethan and Kira ignored him leaping high into the air, aiming punches towards him. The White Ranger deflected them and Ethan landed on his feet in a crouch. He took a step back and summoned his weapon. "Tricera shield!"

"Ptera grips!" Kira added.

They leapt into the air one more time. But this time the White Ranger had another trick up his sleeve. He held up his hands as the rangers landed and placed his palms against their chests. Ethan felt a strange surge move through them before he was flung back and crashed to the ground. This time he couldn't get back up, all of the strength leaving him.

"H-he's too strong," he gasped.

""I can't take it," Kira added from beside them.

They de-morphed. Ethan gasped as he looked at his bare hands. He had never de-morphed before, never been so weak.

"Kira! Ethan!" Bailey cried. She looked over at Tommy and the two nodded before charging into the fight as well, with Bailey summoning her Cephala Club to aid in the attack. It proved to be a big help with the two holding out longer than Kira and Ethan had. But they soon found themselves in the same fate, being struck hard and falling to the ground, de-morphing.

Conner was last. He used his enhanced speed of the Tyrannosaurus Rex to combat the White Ranger's. Red and White streaks shot all around the fallen comrades as they watched, struggling in vain to keep up. Then there was a cry before Conner crashed to the ground and de-morphed as well.

"Conner!" Kira cried.

The White Ranger chuckled a dark chuckle, crossing his arms. Then he lifted his finger and pointed directly at them. "You've been warned. Stay out of my or you'll be destroyed." He then disappeared in a flash of light.

Conner rolled over, resting his hand on his stomach. "Things were _not_ supposed to go like that." He let out a long breath, almost as if it pained him to do so.

"An evil white ranger?" Tommy chuckled darkly. "It's been known to happen."

"What do we do?" Kira asked.

"We figure out who it is and what the bloke wants," Bailey said.

"Before it's too late," Ethan agreed.

* * *

 **A/N:** It's kind of hard to show how devastating the White Ranger can be when I can't actually _see_ it happening. I just hope I was able to give it justice in this chapter. Anything in particular that you'd like to see as things go on? I have some romance stuff coming in like I promised.

Thanks to **SpecialK92, lizziestrong, Adela, barnkel1, Ashley, and XoxMountainGirlxoX** for reviewing.

Please remember to review this one, I'm serious about my writing and my stories, and if you have anything to comment about, anything to mention, or anything to say, I would love to hear it and it motivates me to write more. I respond to every review I get even if it's anonymous.

I'm available to reach by PM here, on my twitter account AvalonAvenue and my tumblr AvalonBayBlog.

 **Review Replies**

 **SpecialK92:** I'm glad you like the idea of the format.

 **Lizziestrong:** Glad you like it as always.

 **Adela:** Av does have someone; she _does_ have a soul mate. I promise. It's getting there! And Tommy does have something coming up that'll address things with Kim and Kat.

 **Brankel1:** Thanks for the continued support.

 **Ashley:** Thanks!

 **XoxMountainGirlxoX:** I'm very glad you like it. And thanks for the support, I'll definitely PM you if something comes up!

 **~Av**


	26. Chapter 26: White Thunder (2)

**A/N:** Now that the original rangers are back there's fair warning that in this story there are some spoilers for _Ready When You Are_ and the Bailey series. Hopefully it doesn't deter you guys too much.

* * *

 **Chapter 26**

 _White Thunder (2)_

* * *

Tommy and Jason shuffled back and forth across the practice mats on that lay on the floor of the basement lab. It took a few seconds before their fists and feet were flying in rapid succession to attack and block each other. Since the former rangers had arrived, Tommy, Avalon, and Bailey had quickly gone to work to get things set up so that each of his friends had access to the lab and had a place for them as well as not overcrowding anything and everyone.

Hayley was a little annoyed at the intrusion at first, but then having Billy and Trini to help her out from time to time, things became easier for her to adjust to them. Of course it wasn't that everyone was living there—though Tommy vetoed Zack's suggestion of a sleepover of all of them for old time's sake—but it was their new Command Center and they certainly all felt like it was home. And Avalon and Bailey could see that it was really good for Tommy; his moodiness and wanting to stick to himself had started to ebb away though they still worried about him, knowing he still hadn't grieved or talked much about their parent's death.

Now, like old times, Tommy and Jason were sparring to get their daily exercise in and it seemed that the time that had passed didn't hurt much in their abilities as they continued to come up in a tie. Tommy continued to jerk his head back rapidly as Jason's fists came close to his face. Reaching up, Tommy grabbed onto Jason's arm and pulled him hard until Jason's back was pressed against Tommy's front. Then Tommy let go of Jason's arm and jumped high, kicking Jason gently in the back so that he stumbled forward, away from the black ranger. Jason turned back to start fighting him again and soon found the two doing a high kick, that struck each other in the chest and flopped them onto the ground on their backs.

They did a kip-up back to their feet and faced each other again before relaxing. Tommy extended his hand and Jason grabbed onto it in a firm handshake. Then the two grabbed their towels and started to wipe sweat off their faces.

"So do you think it's possible?" Jason asked.

"That you may have gotten worse since the last time we fought? Yeah, I think that's really possible," Tommy replied. The two laughed and Jason swatted him on the arm with his towel before his face turned serious. "If you're talking about you getting your powers back, I think there's a really good chance that, yes, it's possible."

Jason crossed his arms. "You seem to be pretty confident in it."

"That's because I am."

"If that's the case, how come you've never said anything about it before?" Jason's question made Tommy take pause for a minute. The black ranger busied himself by pressed his lips together and using his towel to continue wiping at his face. Jason reassured him with a half smile, motioning to Tommy's black tank top. "Or is it that you really like to change your color all the time?"

"I already got the riot act from Zack about it," Tommy said. He rolled his eyes. "And he threatened me with that I ever go through his clothes that he'll make me pay. You think he would've started wearing a different color by now."

Jason shrugged. "Habits are hard to break. It seems wrong to wear a different color after what we've been through, let alone seeing someone else wear our color." He laughed as well. "Let me tell you, seeing that red is the 'color of the year' can really throw me off sometimes." Tommy gave him a strange look and Jason rolled his eyes. "I've been around Kim and Trini as they talked about shopping so much that there are some things I can't forget. Let alone how much worse it got when Av came along."

Tommy laughed again. He certainly knew what Jason was talking about and commiserated. Dating Kimberly meant most of his time was spent at the mall carrying her bags as she tried on dress after dress in store after store. When he started dating Kat it was similar though she didn't go to the mall with as much fervor as Kimberly did and that gave him some bit of a reprieve. He thought he had made it in the clear when Avalon said she would take him shopping for some black clothes but even that was bad; the second he stepped into a store she was in the men's section throwing shirts and pants at him.

 _Hopefully now that Kimberly and Trini are back around I can get out of it,_ Tommy thought. The thought struck him as weird. He never thought he would be back in the same room with his old friends let along the same city. _Then again, you never thought your parents were going to die, either._ He reminded himself.

"Don't change the subject, man," Jason said. "Talking about getting our powers back then clamming up doesn't solve anything. It just gets our hopes up higher than they have been in years."

"If you could get your powers back would you?" Tommy asked.

Jason thought for a long moment. "I wondered the same thing when I had the Mighty Morphin' Powers then lost them and then when I had the Zeo Powers then lost them again."

"But you didn't lose your original powers," Tommy pointed out. _He_ had, with that green candle.

"Still, the sentiment was the same." Jason licked his lips. "It felt like a part of me was missing. A big part. Before we had our powers I knew that I was destined to help people; I volunteered, I joined clubs, I gave back to the community and taught martial arts all because it felt right to me. That I was meant for greater things. Then when we got the powers I knew that's what it was; the Great Power chose us because we were meant to be the ones chosen and I loved that. But I also knew that my family was important when my uncle needed our help so I willingly gave them up. For a while I felt lost, like that part of me was missing again and when I became the gold ranger, after Billy had to transfer the powers, I felt whole again. Then empty again when it was lost. And I couldn't talk about it.

"That's why Emily and I fought all the time. It wasn't just because of what happened with Divatox and the sub and being away for days without telling her. It was because of not telling her I was a ranger in the first place, because of the excuses and strange lies, because when the powers were gone I didn't feel whole again. When I didn't have the powers before I still had you guys, I had people that understood what it was like but Emily couldn't and I couldn't open up myself completely to her. That's why we fought and that's why we broke up." He looked aside for a moment. "It's not the reason _she_ believes, but it was _my_ reasoning. And for a while now as ranger teams continued to come and go, I've wondered what it would be like to be able to do it again."

Tommy let out a long breath, turning away from Jason for a moment. He knew he should've said something to them before, maybe said something about his own work with Hayley to create the powers. Honestly, what surprised him was how much Billy had avoided him while they were both at MIT. Whether it was because of the different programs they were in corresponding to their fields of study or because Billy really _was_ too busy, Tommy didn't press the matter. If Billy wanted to talk to him he would've done it himself. Thankfully things weren't strange with them when coming back together, and he was surprised Avalon didn't kill Billy upon sight, their circumstances were serious.

"I'm sure that having my powers back enough for that Forever Red mission was a fluke—"

"No," Tommy interrupted. "It wasn't a fluke. I made that happen." Jason looked at him in confusion, bringing his eyebrows together. He crossed his arms and firmly planted his feet on the ground. He wasn't going anywhere until Tommy told him everything. "It's sort of like how Adam was able to morph to help Carlos. It might've been one of the last bursts of power the morphers had; and if that's the case then Billy, Trini, Kimberly, Avalon, and Bailey probably have one more moprh they can use out of them. But I think I found a way to bring power back to the morphing grid. Sort of the same way I managed to do that for the Forever Red mission."

Jason waved his hand. "You need to be a little more specific, bro."

Tommy sighed, licking his lips as he remembered his trip right before collecting all of the red rangers together.

 _Tommy grunted as he landed hard on the ground._

 _He was definitely not used to teleporting after his years of being retired. He wondered how he managed to talk himself into this, to come out of his 'retirement' based on a dream he had. However, the time that he had spent being a power ranger he knew when you had to listen to your dreams. There was always a good chance it could come true in many different ways, good or bad. Brushing off his clothes, Tommy looked around Eltar, the place Zordon and Alpha had called home many years ago._

 _It didn't look like he had expected; he thought it would be filled with gasses that no human could breathe in without asphyxiating. Instead, it was like a jungle, a steamy forest; much like the one that he and Kat had landed in when they were looking for Larigot to stop Divatox from using his powers to resurrect Maligore. Sweat already started to drip down Tommy's forehead, making him take off his jacket and tie it around his waist. He used the back of his arm to wipe the dripping beads, keeping them from falling into his eyes. He hadn't been more grateful that he had decided to cut his long hair. Tommy let out a heavy sigh and started walking, taking the only path that was around, otherwise he would be wandering through the dense brush._

 _So far, he was following his dream closely; the path branched off at the right time and he continued to take the path to the right through the hanging branches and swaying trees. There was a light breeze that caressed his face and the sound of twigs snapping all followed his dream as well. Tommy glanced around him, on edge as he always ways, careful that no one was going to come up behind him, making sure he wasn't jumped. Dark Specter—the name Maligore then went by—had invaded the planet ages ago; he wasn't sure what had happened of the place since then._

 _As soon as the thought entered his mind, Tommy was bathed in a warm, golden feeling. A protective shield that, while he couldn't see it, he could feel covering him, rolled over every inch of his body and solidified around his form. This was Eltar; Zordon's and Alpha's home planet, and while the two had been gone for a long time, their spirits were giving him the power of protection of anything that could come his way. Tommy continued to walk, the warm sunlight beating down on his head, making him relinquish his white undershirt, stuffing it down his back pants pocket. His breathing started to become ragged and he wondered why he had never thought of bringing some water, why NASADA hadn't warned him that it would be a difficult trip, why he couldn't let others know what he was doing._

 _He had to leave in the middle of the night and as quietly as possible to get to NASADA in enough time to debrief them of his dream and his plan before they gave him the ability to teleport up to the planet, no questions asked. Time had really changed since he had been a ranger. Before, no one outside of the other rangers and whoever was an ally or an opponent could know his true identity. Now they had people that wanted to help the Power Rangers and anything with it to the best of their abilities. Tommy's hands clenched in determination and with a renewed vigor, he opened his stride and continued down the path. After a few minutes he reached a large concrete structure at the end of the path. NASADA had gotten the correct coordinates after all._

 _Tommy studied the opening of the structure in silent awe. It looked like the blueprints of a house that a child would come up with; two slabs of concrete that held a roof with a large block of concrete behind it. Taking a step closer, Tommy could see the opening to the structure sloped down into the ground, the rest of the path disappearing in the darkness inside. ._

 _When he first had the dream, Tommy had woken up before he could go inside and see what was hidden beneath the concrete slabs. He had woken up in a cold sweat with a feeling that the Power residing inside him was taking control of his body and telling him where to go. That's how he found himself flying out of bed to get dressed before he rushed to NASADA. They had seemingly been waiting for him to get there, as they had quickly ushered him inside and listened to the story that Tommy had told them. Next thing he knew, he was on Eltar. He couldn't turn back now._

 _Tommy took a deep breath and started inside the concrete building. The stale air rushed back towards him and hit him in the face, rolling up his nose. All of a sudden, the walkway was illuminated in a blinding light; Tommy raised his arm, to allow his eyes to adjust. Able to see once more, he followed the path until he came into a large room that appeared to resemble a Command Center, though there were some obvious differences. Pressed against the side of the room was a set of stairs and as Tommy tilted his head back to follow them, they circled the room as the stairs climbed, disappearing further than his eyes could see. There was a power chamber in the middle of the room that was covered in shadow, and as Tommy approached he could see that something used to live in there, but it was now empty, covered in dust._

 _Zordon…_

 _Tommy reached up a hand and closed his eyes, placing it on the power chamber. Zordon had been there to help him and the other rangers through everything; through their near deaths, through their defeats, through the changing of their powers and the changing of the teams. But he was gone now, having sacrificed himself to be able to save the rangers. It was the power energy wave of good that had purified Rita, Zedd, Divatox, and Astronema, while also destroying all of the other villains that had managed to survive. The purification wave had fixed a lot of things, but it didn't stop those villains from other universes, planets, and dimensions. Many people had felt it when Zordon gave up his life; Tommy had felt as if he had been punched in the stomach, followed by the feeling that he was losing energy._

 _Everything that Zordon had done for them all, the power he had bestowed in them, the role of a mentor and father figure had stuck with him for so long. He never thought it was possible that Zordon would ever die._

 _Not after what had happened with Ivan Ooze._

 _Tommy shook his head…Ivan…one of the hardest morphological beings the rangers had ever faced. It was a blow to them all to see Zordon pass away, but they had managed to save him. Maybe he could be saved again…?_

 _Tommy raised a hand and placed it on the power tube, closing his eyes, lowering his head. Maybe, in a way, it was Zordon that had called him back to Eltar. There had to be something he needed him there for. Behind closed eyes, Tommy could see the room illuminating again. Tommy's eyes flew open and he dropped his hand, his handprint visible through the thick layer of dust. The white light continued to glow, now pulsing as a tinge of red slid into it._

 _"What?" Tommy's eyes narrowed and he took a few steps back, watching s the power tube continued to pulse in colors. White. Red. White. Red. White. Red. A beam of light cut through his handprint, the only part being able to escape from the dust covering the tube, and it rocketed around the room. "What's going on?" Tommy took more steps backwards until his back was pressed against the back wall._

 _No where left to run._

 _Tommy placed a hand on his chest. He could hear his heartbeat. Not just in his head, but in the room to the same pulse of the glowing red and white light. Finally, the light stopped in front of Tommy and hovered in front of his chest before slowing pushing its way inside. Tommy clenched his jaw, seizing his muscles, expecting some sort of pain. There was discomfort, but not pain, the warm shroud around him continued to grow until he felt as if he were in a furnace. Tommy threw his head back and screamed, his voice echoing around the room. He continued to scream as the temperature rose, his throat turning raw._

 _The heat started to fade and Tommy lowered his head, watching s the light slowly started to work its way back out of his chest. Tommy's eyes widened as he watched._

 _It can't be…_

 _The light from the power chamber faded and Tommy dropped to his knees. The light continued to glow above him for a few seconds before it took the shape of a crystal. Tommy opened his hands and caught the crystal that fell to the ground, rescuing it from shattering. Catching his breath, Tommy stared at the crystal, cupping his fingers around the familiar object. As he did so, one last light came from the crystal, touching his wrists._

 _His Zeo morpher stared back at him._

 _Tommy could feel it; his Zeo powers had been restored._

 _"How…how is that possible?" Tommy staggered to his feet and stumbled back over to the power chamber. He rested his arms against it, sucking in mouthfuls of air before frantically wiping his hands back and forth against the glass, smearing the dust so it made a spot visible enough for him to see a small, gray relic at the bottom of the power chamber. It repeatedly glowed white, though it steadily lost its sheen as the seconds passed. Instinctively, Tommy knew what it was…it was the source of Zordon's power and Zordon's power and spirit had repaired Tommy's Zeo powers with them._

 _There was a gentle tinkling sound and Tommy turned his head, following the sound. He watched as something small and golden rolled across the floor, having come from the power tube as well. Tommy followed the sound as the object rolled over to the stairs and stopped, hitting the last step. As he bent down to pick it up, Tommy knew exactly what it was. Turning it over in his hand, he was greeted with the sight of the Tyrannosaurus power coin. The cracked coin gleamed in his hand as Tommy brought it closer to his face. Tommy glanced at his Zeo morpher and then at the power tube. Standing up, he opened up his morpher and on a whim, pressed the coin to the golden plate that stood on top of his morpher._

 _A bright red light glowed and when it faded the Tyrannosaurus coin was restored, this time gleaming a red light._

 _Tommy grinned to himself._

 _The red light shot up the stairs in a steady light. Pushing the power coin into his pocket, Tommy started to climb the stairs. His footsteps echoed along the chamber as he continued to walk, eerily following him up the never-ending stairs. As he went, Tommy could feel his anxiety drain away to newfound confidence, the same sort of confidence he had felt when he was the leader of the rangers, that they could and would do anything to be able to defeat anyone that tried to stand in their way. When Tommy reached the top of the stairs the darkness around him lifted to show a sort of balcony that overlooked the power chamber. Turning around, Tommy could see an opening that gave him a view of Eltar. Shifting his foot to the side, Tommy felt it brush against something and looked down to see Alpha 5's body lying on the ground with a table of tools set up next to him._

 _Tommy's mouth dropped open as he looked at the remains of his former ally then looked up as the familiar sound of a car horn caught his attention. He glanced out the opening in the wall to see the Lightning Cruiser, his former zord, flying towards him. Tommy chuckled, gently shaking his head, placing his hands on his hips._

 _"Well…I guess I have a lot of work to do."_

"So you're saying…after going to Eltar and you returning the Tyrannosaurus Power Coin…you restored my power coin and I can use it as many times as I want now? Like I used to?"

Tommy nodded. "Not only that, but I think if we go back there we can restore the rest of your powers too."

"Back where?"

"Eltar."

In another part of the lab, Billy got a toolbox together and started to walk towards the hanger that held the zords. He found Hayley and Avalon already there, looking over the blueprints of the Cephala zord. "Looks like you beat me to my job," Billy commented as he walked closer. "Though I can't say I'm surprised, Hayley, this project should be, as those who tend to hold a sense of protection over their work, 'your baby'."

"If I'm going to have children it'll be a human, not a robot," Hayley pointed out. She thought for a moment. "Plus, I'd need to find the right woman who would want to have a baby with me so we can decide through the means of adoption or sperm donor but a robot baby dinosaur? Definitely not."

"Definitely," Billy agreed. Then his eyes shifted over to Avalon and a smile came to his face. "I didn't know you were interested in the zords."

"Considering I was the one who schooled you on our connection with them, how could I not?" Avalon replied. She crossed her arms and shrugged. "And it's been a long time; I do a lot more than target practice. Somehow I've become a sort of mentor to this team and I'm surprised I haven't run it into the ground."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, if there's anyone else that could be a mentor for anyone I think it's you," Billy reassured her. "You've seen a lot of ranger teams and have a lot of experience behind it, so I don't know why you wouldn't." He set his toolbox down and pulled out a screwdriver.

"You think you want to sit down and talk to Ethan then?" Hayley asked. Billy glanced over his shoulder, using it to brush his blonde hair away from his blue eyes, his eyebrows rising in question. "I think these guys are starting to feel the pressure about being rangers and could use someone to talk to, to give them some reassurance."

Billy thought for a moment. Then he let out a low sigh, shaking his head. "I don't think that's a good idea."

Hayley's eyebrows came together and she exchanged a glance with Avalon. "You don't think it's a good idea to pass on your wisdom to another person?"

"That doesn't sound like you at all," Avalon added. She turned to Hayley, pointing towards Billy with her thumb. "I don't think there was a day that went by without him telling us something that he discovered or managed to fix with our tech. But back then it wasn't as easy to understand him."

"I like to think that I've come a long way since my start," Billy said.

"If a 'long way' you mean being able to breeze through MIT with little tripping you up, then I'm inclined to agree," Hayley said. She nodded towards Billy and said to Avalon, "If I'm not mistaken, most of the professors ended up fighting over who got to mentor Billy with his research projects." She looked up at Billy, who had moved to the top of the hanger to reach the head of the Tyrannosaurus zord. "What was your subject of study again?"

Billy paused and was silent for a long moment. He reached out his hands and rested them against the railing. He lowered his head then let out a long breath. "Mythology," he said shortly. "Or if you want to be more specific; Anthropology." He busied himself with his work once more. "I studied a lot of different things while I was there."

"And became the talk of the campus," Hayley said. "Imagine my surprise when I found myself to be in one of his classes and he was actually really nice. I was afraid he was going to be a jerk from the way other students were talking about him."

Avalon's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Billy? A jerk?"

A smirk came to Billy's face as he heard Avalon's startled reaction. His reputation did proceed him while he was at MIT. But was it so bad that he wanted to focus on his work? He didn't have a lot of time for much other than his studies. There was a lot he wanted to figure out about spirits and mythology and the equipment they had in the science and engineering labs at MIT was some of the best. He couldn't turn down all of the time he had to work. _Besides, after being a ranger it's difficult to be normal again,_ he constantly reminded himself as he turned down offer after offer for drinks or to take a break.

"I had a lot of work to do, so my peers thought I had an air of arrogance around me when I would turn down their offers to hang out," Billy explained. His eyes shifted over the circuitry of the Tyrannosaurus zord, his smile widening. This certainly was where he was meant to be, just like old times. "Sort of like how you treated us at the beginning."

"What'd you expect me to do, mate? You wouldn't leave me the fuck alone," Avalon defended herself.

"Maybe I saw something in you that no one else did," Billy suggested.

Tilting her head to the side, Avalon smirked at Billy, her eyes flashing. "Or maybe, boofhead, you didn't know how to take 'no' for a bloody answer."

He laughed. "That too." He continued working on the Tyrannosaurus zord, barely looking over when he noticed Avalon join him on the hangar to work on the Pterazord. They worked in silence for a while until Billy spoke up, stating, "you can ask me the question you've been dying to ask."

"What makes you think I want to ask you something?" Avalon lifted her head, flicking her hair from her face.

A chuckle escaped Billy's lips. "I've known you long enough to know when you're afraid of asking something because you're worried about offending someone." He lifted his head, raising his eyebrows. "Which is equally distressing as you've never cared so much about it before as if memory serves correctly you're usually pretty blunt."

"People change."

"But their personalities are created nearly at the basis of birth and that personality is difficult to change even as time passes and circumstances change around them."

"Techno-speak. And to think I thought that had changed."

Billy paused for a moment, looking out over the hangar. Then a grin stretched across his face, his blue eyes lighting up. A chuckle escaped his lips. "Well, it appears I've proven my point." He set his tools down and started to wipe at the grease at his hands. "So, your question?"

Avalon's eyes narrowed for a moment. She turned to Billy and regarded him carefully. "You helped my dad create the Lightspeed Rescue powers didn't you?" She asked. Billy nodded. "To defeat Diabolico?"

"Not only to defeat Diabolico," he said quickly. "But to improve upon the powers that he had already created so that Mariner Bay could continue to be safe. That's the priority of having ranger powers around."

 _Maybe if I say that enough, I'll convince myself,_ Billy thought. He cleared his throat, and rubbed sweat off his forehead, sure that he had smeared grease as he did so. He didn't have to look over at Avalon to know she was giving him a pointed look that she didn't believe him. She always did manage to call him out in a matter of seconds.

Thankfully, he was reprieved by Hayley suddenly calling out to them in distress. "Billy! Avalon! I think you need to see this!"

Quick as a flash, Billy and Avalon hurried down to the floor of the lab and followed Hayley to the main component of the lab where the rest of the rangers had gathered. Billy noticed Zack, Kimberly, and Trini had joined them as well from whatever part of the lab they had been in. But the group crowded around Tommy and Hayley as they sat at their computer.

"What's going on?" Billy asked.

"You know that energy reading that you guys got a few days ago?" Tommy asked. "Well, it's worse than we thought it would be."

"Worse than an evil white ranger?" Avalon asked.

"I don't think anything can be worse than an evil _green_ ranger," Zack pointed out.

Tommy frowned but didn't take the bait.

"The white ranger that the others have gone against before was bad enough," Hayley said slowly. "But a zord for him is even worse. We're getting the reading that the energy output levels you got was coming from a Dino egg. We haven't locked onto it exactly but we need to find it before the white ranger does."

"Do you have any location set on where the egg is?" Trini asked.

Hayley shook her head. "No, that's the problem."

"I'm sure we'll find it," Kimberly said. "We've done a lot harder things before."

If you start to triangulate the energy output you're getting now with the one you've found before and place it against the Dino gems that Kira, Ethan, Conner, and Bailey have, it may make it easier to find," Billy suggested. It came as a surprise to him, to be able to jump back into things so quickly and easily. The threat of Rita and Zedd must've awakened something in him he hadn't realized was so dormant.

Tommy looked at his watch and frowned. "I'm going to have to trust you guys to do it or I'm going to be late for class. Let me know what you come up with." He turned to Avalon. "Contact me as soon as _anything_ comes up. And I'll let the others know."

"You got it," Avalon replied. "Hopefully nothing happens while you're gone."

He chuckled, shaking his head.

Avalon knew what he was thinking. She had the same thought.

It'd be a miracle of Mesogog didn't take advantage.

* * *

Conner smirked. He watched Bailey smooth her hair down over her shoulders. Then she frowned and pulled it back into a ponytail, trying it with a large purple scrunchie. Once her hair was out of her face she sat up straight and looked into her textbook once more. It wasn't until she heard a low chuckle beside her that she rolled her eyes, leaning back in her seat.

"I don't see what's so funny," she remarked.

Conner continued to chuckle, tapping his pencil against his notebook. "It's nothing, really," he said. "It's just so funny to see you get so flustered when I say that I don't think education is the right path for everyone."

"But not having education as a foundation is just setting yourself up for failure, mate," Bailey replied.

"I don't think so. I think having a good balance of work and leisure is the best way to go." He thought for a moment then sat up straight, resting his arms on the table as he did so. "It's like playing soccer."

"Here we go." Bailey rolled her eyes.

"No, no hear me out. I mean it like this. In the game you have to work hard to make sure things go your way, that your passes are clean, that your plans are executed well, that you win." Bailey nodded in agreement. "But it doesn't work when you're not having fun. Once you take it too seriously you're taking too much out of the game and it becomes a drag." He rolled his eyes. "It's like my dad…well, my step-dad says. He keeps pushing me to win and do nothing but win; I don't think he understands that it can't all be about work."

Bailey rolled her eyes again as she shook her head. "Trust you to turn the conversation back to soccer. I feel sorry for the girl who starts to date you. You know, being number two in your life, yeah?" She smiled teasingly at him.

"Whomever I date and eventually marry is just going to have to deal with it."

"Marriage, huh? That doesn't seem like something you'd be interested in."

"Why? 'Cause I'm a dumb jock?"

Bailey frowned, the smile quickly leaving her face. She sat back, her eyes widening. "I didn't say that," She said quickly. "But if that's how it sounded, I apologize, mate."

Conner reassured her with a teasing smile. "I think I know what you meant. But at the moment I don't really have time for a committed relationship. School and sports really get in the way and everything."

"Yeah, that's the reason you can't have a relationship," Cassidy commented as she walked by. Devin trailed behind her, dragging camera equipment as they went. "It's got _nothing_ to do with the fact that you're a lousy catch."

Conner rolled his eyes. The two continued to a table at the other side of the library with Cassidy snapping at Devin about 'being careful of the equipment', 'we need this to get the footage', and 'don't be so lazy' as they went.

Twisting to look over her shoulder, Bailey shook her head. "I can't believe you dated her."

"Neither can I," Conner agreed. "She didn't use to be like that."

"Yeah, Kira said that you three used to be friends."

"Right. Friends." Conner pressed his lips together. That had been so long ago, there were plenty of times he forgot about it. Probably why Kira hated him so much when they first found he Dino Gems. Yeah, he shouldn't have called her 'babe' like that when he knew her name. But they hadn't hung out in a long time and hadn't spoken at all since their fallout. _Not that it matters much; Kira seems to have found friendship in Trent._ Conner pushed away the slight sense of irritation that rumbled through his chest. Plus, they ran in two different circles now; he was the most popular guy in school and she and Ethan…weren't. Bailey did have some interest—that she didn't seem to notice—for being the new kid. Plus the accent helped. _Not to mention her past as a ranger and history with Dr. Oliver._ "It's really…complicated."

"I can see that." Bailey then shifted in her seat, looking uncomfortable. "You said your step-dad gets pretty aggro on you about soccer. Does that make it hard for you?"

"Not more than being yelled at for letting my grades slip," Conner said. He smiled wryly. "He's always on my ass about my grades. And saying how if I'm going to squander my time with soccer I better get on the national team."

"That's a blood tall order!" Bailey laughed in surprise.

"I know, but…it's my dream. He just…wants to make sure I get there or I go to school, no in-between." Conner started to twirl his pencil around his fingers. "But what about you? What are your parents like? You said you're adopted…?" He watched as Bailey grimaced.

"It's sort of complicated," Bailey said slowly. "But the long and the short of it is that my parents gave me and Av up and we were friends with Tommy for a while and then his parents adopted us." She cleared her throat. "But they…passed away in a car accident not too long ago."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"No worries. We're all learning how to move on. We're just more cautious now. Being more open with our feelings, you know?" Bailey cleared her throat. "So, uh, we should get back to studying, yeah?"

"Yeah, but uh, are you coming to the soccer game after school?" Conner asked.

"I was thinking about it." Bailey slowly started to smile. "Why?"

"You should come it'll be a blast! And then afterwards we can go get something to eat. As a thank you for helping me study." He motioned to his books. "I really don't know where I'd be without your help."

"Probably six feet under as it sounds like your dad would kill you, yeah?" Bailey smiled and nodded. "That sounds like fun. I'd love to go." She paused and slapped her hand onto her wrist as hers and Conner's morphers started to beep. "Of course we can never get through a day without something coming up?"

"Right." Conner leaned towards her and pressed a button on his morpher, speaking quietly. "What's going on?"

"We've got a problem," Avalon said. "There's a lot of dino eggs that are popping up around the city. At the warehouse and the docks. We need to check them out. You and Bay go to the warehouse and Kira and Ethan can go to the docks."

"You got it." Conner and Bailey gathered their things together and hurried from the library and around a secluded corner before teleporting to where they needed to be. Once there they carefully put their backpacks down and a scanner appeared in Conner's hands.

"I guess we'll need to follow the energy path with this," Bailey remarked.

Conner frowned as it started to beep rapidly. He turned it back and forth, looking over the readings. But to him they looked squiggly and complicated. "I have no idea how to read this thing," he complained. "Why couldn't they give Ethan geek duty?"

"Give it here," Bailey said, holding out her hand. Conner slapped the device into her hand, his fingers brushing over her as he did so. Bailey smiled at him before holding it up and turning back and forth. As the beeping got louder Bailey turned and started to walk in its direction. "It's not so hard to read when you take some time with it."

"Yeah, well, I think I'll just leave it to you," Conner said. He started to follow her through the warehouse.

"Right, I forgot. You're just a dumb jock."

"Ha ha."

Conner and Bailey followed the device and found themselves face to face with the White Ranger. He had his hand out, sending energy into an egg that rested atop a crate. Conner exchanged a look with Bailey and the two nodded before throwing themselves around the corner.

"Hey!" Bailey called.

"I don't have time for you two," the White Ranger growled. "I'm busy." He pulled out his sword and created arrows, sending them back to Conner and Bailey. The energy blast sent them to the ground, before they scrambled back to their feet.

"Then you'll have to make time!" Conner declared. "Ready?"

"Ready!" Bailey replied.

"Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!"

"Tyranno!"

"Cephala!"

"Dino Power!"

Once morphed, Conner and Bailey shot towards the White Ranger, ready for an attack. But the White Ranger moved at his incredibly blinding speed, slashing them with his sword and sending a crushing blow to them that sent them flying. The White Ranger turned, hardly out of breath, lifting his sword over his shoulder.

"Too easy," he said.

"We're not done yet," Conner replied. He started forward once more then stopped as a horde of putties and cogs suddenly appeared in front of him. "What the-? What are those?"

"Putties and cogs!" Bailey replied. "From Rita and Zedd and the Machine Empire!"

"What do we do?"

"Hit the putties in their Z-plates, then take care of the cogs!" Bailey said.

"And while you're at it…" The White Ranger turned on his heel and left the warehouse as silent as the wind.

* * *

 **A/N:** I know this didn't have much to do with White Thunder but the last part did so I fit it together. What did you think? I bet you didn't expect Jason's and Tommy's conversation about the powers being able to be returned. I'm so excited guys, you have no idea.

Also, I had a bit of nostalgia. Thanks to a review from Toxic Wednesday I re-read my first two stories _All To Blame_ and _Made of Glass_ and as weird as it sounds, I miss writing those stories. Nothing beats the feeling of starting a new story/series and the wonder of where it will eventually go. You know what I mean? Sort of like the feeling of starting a TV show for the first time.

Thanks to **SpecialK92, Adela, XoxMountainGirlxoX, Ashley, Guest, lizziestrong, Son of Whitebeard, ToxicWednesday, brankel1, and Guest** for reviewing.

Please remember to review this one, I'm serious about my writing and my stories, and if you have anything to comment about, anything to mention, or anything to say, I would love to hear it and it motivates me to write more. I respond to every review I get even if it's anonymous. _Also, don't forget to follow me on tumblr at AvalonBayBlog; I post links/updates to my stories, gif/photo sets of PR seasons (I just made a set for Avalon), and am willing to talk to everyone!_

I'm available to reach by PM here, on my twitter account AvalonAvenue and my tumblr AvalonBayBlog.

 **Review Replies**

 **SpecialK92:** It's already been revealed (to the reader) that Trent is the White Ranger. But, no, Tommy will not be encased in amber in this story.

 **Adela:** Once some things are revealed it'll make sense of who her soulmate it. But I hope everyone likes it when it is revealed.

 **XoxMountainGirlxoX:** I'll definitely work your idea in soon. I've got an idea of when it can happen already.

 **SonofWhitebeard:** Long time no talk, glad to see you're still around and enjoying it!

 **Toxic Wednesday:** Like I said in my PM thank you so much for your kind words. It really makes things better as I have moments of loss of inspiration when working on a project this big. You really helped make my writing juices flow with this chapter.

 **~Av**


	27. Chapter 27: Eye-Opener

**A/N:** I originally planned to have this updated on Tuesday, but I re-worked some things and had to re-do most of the chapter.

* * *

 **Chapter 27**

 _Eye-Opener_

* * *

Kira and Ethan ran over to the Dino egg they tracked down at the docks. Ethan ran the scanner up and down the egg that sat nestled along the nets nearby a docked boat. He hovered it over the egg a few times then frowned as he pulled it back, glancing at the screen.

Moving next to Ethan, Kira draped her hand over the screen to block it from the sunlight. "What? There's nothing here?"

"But then how is it giving off an energy reading?" Ethan asked. He turned it back and forth to make sure it was reading correctly. Then, finally, he lowered it and reached out, grabbing onto the egg.

A shocked cry escaped Kira's lips. She reached out and grabbed onto his arm. "Whoa! Be careful, you don't know what's going on with that thing!"

"We have to find out," Ethan replied. He turned it back and forth in his hands. "If it's not giving an energy reading…" he paused, pressing his hands around the egg. "No. It doesn't have the same feeling as the other Dino Eggs we've found before. It would've turned into a zord or something as soon as we touched it. Remember? It bonds with a ranger."

"This egg is a fake and we need to get to Conner and Bailey! Right now!"

"Let's go."

"Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!"

"Tricera!"

"Ptera!"

Kira and Ethan teleported over to the warehouse just in time to find Conner and Bailey scrambling to their feet to take down Putties and Cogs. The two immediately joined the fray, following Bailey's quick suggestion to hit the Putties in their Z-Plates, and then take down the cogs as it would be easier to work on them. The four raced into battle to fight against the putties and cogs as they swarmed around them.

* * *

Tommy was a few steps away from walking into the teacher's lounge when his morpher went off. Sucking in a sharp breath, Tommy placed his foot, which was seconds from going over the threshold, back on the ground. He turned and tried to inconspicuously leave the room, but Principal Randall's head shot upwards when she heard the beeping sound.

"Dr. Oliver, I hope I don't need to remind you that cell phones are prohibited while on school grounds," she said, eyeing him warily.

Tommy thought for a moment, hoping to come up with a good excuse. _C'mon, Tommy, you've done this enough times when you were younger. You have to have a really good excuse by now._ "I know, but…I need to keep in on. There's a family emergency and—"

Principal Randall cut him off as she said, "It is common knowledge that your parents passed away in a rather unfortunate car accident and your little sister is a student in this school. What other family emergency could you have?"

Tommy pressed his lips together, pushing down the wave of grief that started to rise. No. He was better than that. More professional. He wasn't going to let a hardass like Randall get to him. Not when there was enough for him to worry about than what Principal Randall thought of him and what he thought of her. _Though bitch does come to mind,_ Tommy thought. Not that he would ever say it to her face.

"It's a very personal problem," Tommy said instead. "I'm sorry, I have to leave." He backed away from the doorway and turned on his heel to leave. Who cares about the meeting the two were to have about his performance as a teacher? The city was in danger and that was more important. He only made it a few steps before he heard Principal Randall's voice behind him.

"You can't expect to be the one to always save the day, Dr. Oliver. Sometimes you just have to let things happen naturally."

Tommy paused, his eyebrows coming together. For a moment he thought about confronting her, to turn around and stare her down to demand what it was she meant. But his morpher went off again and he knew he didn't have the time. As much as he wanted to, he knew he didn't have time.

Instead, he continued out the building before teleporting to his lab. Arriving, he loosened his tie and rolled up the sleeves of his button down shirt as he noticed all of his friends crowding around Hayley's computer. "What've you got?"

"The White Ranger, putties, and cogs," Hayley explained.

"Kira, Conner, Ethan, and Bailey were checking out the energy outputs from Dinozord Eggs at the dock and the warehouse that we managed to triangulate," Billy quickly explained. "Unfortunately, as it seems to be with every one of these moments, it was a decoy for the White Ranger to open up his own Dinozord Egg."

The image on screen of the four rangers fighting off the footmen that Tommy had grown used to seeing over the years shifted to one of the White Ranger holding a glowing egg in his hands as he walked through a forest clearing. Tommy clenched his teeth, recognizing the surroundings. It was nearby, close to the dinosaur museum where he and Avalon had been attacked by the T-Rex statue out at the front. He knew what he was doing but Tommy couldn't help but wonder if there was something else the White Ranger knew, like where their base was. He made a mental note to update the security of his place while simultaneously coming up with a plan to stop the White Ranger.

"Tommy, you have to go after him while the others take down the putties and cogs," Avalon said. "At least buy some time before they can get there to help you."

Tommy made a quick decision. "Jason and I'll hold him off."

Zack looked at Tommy like he had grown a second head. The same look that Jason was giving him. "I know we can really rely on Jase to help us in times of stress, but what can he do?"

On a normal basis, Jason would've been a little offended by Zack's comment. Even though he knew his friend was trying to lighten the mood with a light lift to his tone despite the serious expression on his face. But he knew something Zack and the others didn't and while he knew there was a chance of betraying them with that knowledge, they couldn't wait much longer.

"No time to talk, we have to go now," Tommy said.

"You got it, bro." Jason reached out his hand and Tommy clasped his into Jason's before standing beside him. "Lead the way."

Tommy nodded and teleported down to where the White Ranger had placed the Dinozord Egg on the ground. He looked up as Tommy and Jason arrived. The White Ranger slowly stood up away from the Dinozord Egg ad looked at the two.

"Well, it's good to know that I'll be having a little bit of fun taking you down," The White Ranger commented. "And to think I thought using the decoys was going to be all the fun I had today." He slowly curled his fingers into his palm. "Do you have any last words?"

"Yeah," Tommy replied. "You're about to see what _real_ rangers can do!"

"Bring it on, then," The White Ranger replied.

Tommy smirked and brought up his arms. "Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!" He morphed into the Black Dino Ranger and turned to Jason, waiting for him. "It's your turn now. I know you can do it."

Jason nodded. He took a deep breath then faced the White Ranger with a familiar face of determination. "It's morphin' time!" Jason called. He pulled his morpher out and threw it in front of him. "Tyrannosaurus!" There was a bright flash of light and Jason morphed into the Mighty Morphin Red Ranger.

Back at the lab, Kimberly gasped and moved her hands to cover her mouth. "No way," she whispered. "He morphed."

"How'd he do it?" Trini asked. "The last time any of us tried…" She trailed off. She didn't have to complete her sentence. The rest of them knew exactly what happened the last time they tried to morph. Despite have tried it for themselves they heard what happened when Adam tried as well, how it almost destroyed him.

"Does this mean he can use the zord, too?" Zack asked.

Billy shook his head. His knuckles turned white as they curled around the back of Hayley's chair. "They were destroyed in the explosion of the Command Center when Master Ville attacked. There wasn't much left to save. Unless they spent the time to personally fix them…"

"Then how did Jason get the ability to morph again?" Kimberly asked him.

Billy shook his head.

For once he had no answer.

"Let's see what he can do," Avalon murmured. She leaned forward in her seat, eyes glued to the screen. If they could morph again…

Tommy and Jason flew into battle against the White Ranger. The first part of their fight was fists flying, ducking out of the way, and coming into close contact with the White Ranger. Up close and personal. Tommy could see his reflection in the visor of the White Ranger's helmet as close as they got. Tommy had to admit it; the time they spent trying to take the White Ranger down, the other one was good. He could practically feel the surge of power that moved through the White Ranger's body as he grabbed onto Tommy's flying fist and flipped him onto his back.

Jason immediately came to Tommy's aid and took his place, sending a flurry of punches and kicks towards the White Ranger. But the White Ranger proved to still be stronger them then. He soon knocked Jason to the ground and when the two got back to their feet, he summoned his sword and sent light arrows flying around towards them. The two cried out in pain as the arrows truck them and struck their bodies, sending large bursts of painful energy through their bodies.

"Had enough yet?" The White Ranger said. He watched as the two rangers got back to their feet.

"We're just getting started," Jason replied. He held out his hand. "Power Sword!"

"Brachio Staff!" Tommy summoned his weapon. As soon as it was in his hand he pointed it towards the White Ranger. "Water Strike!"

A large blast of water surged forward and crashed into the White Ranger, sending him down to his knees. Jason swung his sword before leaping high into the air. He landed on the ground and slashed it against the White Ranger's side. The energy from the hit of the Power Sword combined with the water strike blasted him back into a tree. The White Ranger fell to his knee and looked up at Tommy and Jason as they moved closer.

"Has enough yet?" Tommy taunted.

"I'm just getting started."

The battle as back on. And while The White Ranger used his blinding speed to his advantage Tommy and Jason continued to fight the White Ranger as long as they could. Finally, he charged up his blade and sent an energy wave into Tommy and Jason, sending them flying as they had done to him before. Tommy landed hard on his back, the pain paralyzing him for a few moments. He struggled to roll onto his side, anything to get himself back up to face the White Ranger again. But he couldn't move.

"Too easy," The White Ranger said.

"We're…we're not done yet," Tommy grunted.

"We're not giving up," Jason added.

"Dr. O!"

Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Bailey raced over to the two fallen rangers. Conner stopped short when he saw Jason on the ground. "What?"

"Another red ranger?" Ethan repeated.

"How's that possible?" Kira asked.

"Jason!" After initial hesitation, Bailey hurried over to the fallen red ranger and knelt down next to him. "Wow, never thought I'd see you morphed again, mate. Are you okay?" She helped him to his feet as Conner and Kira helped Tommy back to his.

"Yeah, never better," Jason agreed. As soon as he was standing again, he de-morphed, bringing a hand back to his chest. "That took more out of me than I thought it would."

"No way," Conner said, looking Jason up and down. "I mean, I knew you were the original red, but to see it up close."

"Now's not the time to be star struck, Conner," Tommy reminded him. "We have more important things to deal with it."

The White Ranger laughed evilly. "Too late, rangers!"

The ground started to shake as the Dinozord Egg started to crack open. There was a bright glow and the egg opened. The rangers watched as a large, white, zord rose to stand over the treetops and roared towards the sky. The White Ranger held out his arm and it's morphed pulsed, aligning himself with the zord. He started forward as if to jump into the cockpit of the zord then stopped, letting out a load groan.

He started to fall to his knees, continuing to scream from pain, arms and legs jerking around as pain rushed through him. "Ugh, not again." He looked up at the rangers. "You…you haven't seen the last of me!"

The White Ranger turned and ran away before the rangers could do anything. Tommy started forward then stopped, letting out a sound of frustration. "No, not again."

"What was that?" Ethan asked. "It was like he couldn't control his powers."

"He might not be able to," Jason said. He groaned, holding onto his side as he leaned against Bailey, who held him up the best he could. "The powers of evil combating the powers of being a ranger…it can be a difficult battle to handle. Especially if you're working hard to stay in control."

"He's right," Tommy agreed. "It's one of the most difficult things you can do."

"You sound like you have a lot of experience with it, Dr. O," Kira pointed out.

Tommy glanced at her for a moment before shaking his head. "We have to get back to the lab. Come on." With that the rangers teleported back before de-morphing. Once they arrived, Trini grabbed Jason's arm and forced him into a chair.

"Ow! Trini, I'm okay!" Jason looked afraid as Trini made sure he continued to sit still, studying his face for any signs of weakness. Concern flashed through her eyes as she did so and Jason shrank away from her, knowing how forceful she could when it came to the well-being of her friends. "I promise, I'm okay."

"Not when she gets her hands on you," Zack commented. "For knowing that you could morph."

"Yeah, I thought we couldn't use our Power Coins anymore," Kimberly said. She reached into the pocket of her jean jacket and pulled out her own coin, rolling it between her fingers. She looked at it longingly, as if waiting for some sort of a sign.

"Do the rest of you have yours, too?" Avalon asked. She reached into the pocket of her jean shorts and pulled out hers, allowing it to rest in her palm. Bailey pulled hers from her pocket and held it our as well. Trini, Zack, and Billy all did the same.

"Those were what made you morph?" Conner asked, looking over them. "I thought they were going to be, I don't know, a little bit more impressive."

Kira elbowed Conner in the side. "Hey, they were the first set of rangers. Without them, we wouldn't be here to save Reefside."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Then Conner's eyebrows furrowed together. "But, wait, why could Jason morph but the rest of you can't?"

"Yeah and how do you know so much about the White Ranger, Dr. O?" Ethan added.

Tommy held his breath, unsure which question to answer first. There was so much he needed to explain but he wasn't sure how to go about it. The realistic response to his revelations was a sense of betrayal and that was the last thing he wanted. He made a vow to himself after being freed from Rita's clutches that he would do his best to make up for what he had done; to make up for having almost destroyed his best friends and killing Angel Grove.

Then Tommy felt a small hand press against his back and the flowery smell of perfume. Before looking to the side, he knew it was Kimberly who was standing beside him. Just her presence could calm anyone down and while they hadn't seen each other in years, he suddenly felt a surge of gratitude for her and the others and how quickly they came when they were called.

"Tommy, I think it's time for you to tell them," She said gently. "It'll really help them figure out what's going on with this White Ranger. Now that Rita and the others are back, it'll help them to know what they're up against. Completely."

"Yeah, you're right Kim," he replied.

Kimberly's smiled widened. "I'm always right." She patted him on the back. "But it's so refreshing for you to finally notice."

"Good to know your modesty hasn't taken a hit," Zack teased. He and Billy exchanged amused glances. Conner, Kira, and Ethan turned their attention to Tommy, waiting to hear what their teacher and mentor had to say.

Tommy smiled back before reaching up his hand to run over his face. He gently stroked his goatee then let out a long sigh. Kimberly was right, there wasn't much longer that he could keep his past a secret. They we going to find out at some point and it was better coming from him than from someone else. They were a team, his new teammates and he needed to trust them. "When we were first starting out as rangers, it was Jason, Zack, Trini, Billy, and Kimberly who were the original five. I moved to town and was the new kid. I met these guys and became friends with them really fast, they were all really friends."

"Some more than others," Zack piped up.

Trini elbowed him in the side.

"And things were going great. Then one day I was leaving the Youth Center, where we would always hang out, and Rita Repulsa tuned me into a Power Ranger. The evil green ranger."

"Wait a minute. The same Rita who's now back and wreaking havoc?" Kira asked.

"The exact same one," Billy agreed.

"For a while I did nothing but cause problems for the rangers. I attacked the Command Center, severely hurt our friends Zordon and Alpha, and hurt these guys. All because Rita was telling me to. I worked hard to fight it, but the evil energy was too hard to fight off. Without these guys I probably wouldn't have been able to do it at all. Not only that, but having to see how the city reacted to watching these guys get beaten by me…" Tommy shook his head. "Every day I move forward from it, but I still feel guilt over what I've done. I still feel like I have to be the best to be better than I was before. But you have to know, if the White Ranger is anything like me…there's someone who's trying hard to be broken free from the evil that's hurting him."

"Yeah, from how hard he fought, it doesn't really seem like it," Conner said. Tommy tried his hardest not to roll his eyes. On one hand, Conner had the absolute worst sense of empathy he'd ever seen but on the other hand, Tommy was glad to have the attention brought off him.

Only because the memories of being the green ranger continued to haunt him as much as his parents' deaths did. He tried to avoid it as much as possible but as soon as the thought entered his mind he would work hard to push it away. That's why he put himself so hard into his studies once leaving high school, how he ended up at MIT, and continued his studies and research, to leave his past behind. What was he going to throw himself into now that his parents were gone?

Not noticing the glare Kira sent his way, Conner continued with, "That was, like, the worst fight ever."

"Brutal," Ethan added.

Tommy shrugged. "There's going to be a lot of days like this."

Kira stopped glaring at Conner then regarded Tommy with a look that was a mixture of offense and confusion. "Uh, whatever happened to the glass half full?"

"Sometimes it's not," Avalon said. She mimicked Tommy's stance, crossing her arms. "Sometimes it's empty. But that's when you gotta dig deep."

"That's when the qualities that made you guys rangers are most important," Tommy agreed.

"You're right. What can we do?" Conner asked. "This guy is still out there and we don't know what to do to stop him. Even when Jason morphed he couldn't stop them. There's something we have to do…but we can't do it."

"Just…go out and have some fun," Avalon said. Conner, Kira, and Ethan started to protest but Bailey quickly came to her sister's defense.

"She's right. Obsessing over this, making it your whole life, it's not going to help. Besides, Conner, don't you have a soccer game in an hour or so?"

Conner's eyes widened. He pulled out his phone to check the time. Kira and Ethan, on the other hand, still didn't seem to be as convinced. Ethan shook his head. "I don't have any desire to go near a computer, not when this is happening."

"He's right; I haven't picked up my guitar in a week," Kira agreed.

Tommy waved his hands towards them. "Go on, teacher's orders. We'll meet you at the game; just go have some fun, alright?" Tommy waited for them to leave the vicinity before adding under his breath, "Enjoy yourselves now, because it's only going to get worse."

"I know, right?" Avalon agreed.

"You know," Kimberly said after a second. "You guys are doing a really great job with these guys," She said. "It's weird to see you guys as mentors, but I have to admit, you're doing as well as Zordon and Alpha would be at this point. It's too bad they're not here to see it."

"They'd be proud," Trini agreed. She turned and rested her hand on Jason's shoulder. "They'd be proud of you, too. Looks like you're never going to get over that being a hero thing." She straight up, running a hand through her hair. "None of us are going to; we all came back here to stop Rita and Zedd again."

Billy, who was unusually quiet throughout the conversation, finally spoke up. "The question is how Jason was able to morph? We haven't been able to do it in years."

Tommy twisted his mouth to the side. "I wasn't keeping this a secret, but it has to do with the Forever Red mission?"

"The one about a year ago?" Billy asked. Tommy raised an eyebrow. "I continue to keep in contact with General Norquist so it came up in conversation. Are we speaking about the same instance? Where the red rangers all went to the moon?"

"The moon?" Kimberly's eyebrows rose. She looked impressed. "And I thought going to Phaedos was cool."

"Yeah, if you think eating those disgusting squirbs was cool," Avalon remarked. She placed her hand against her stomach, an expression of intense displeasure on her face.

"If I recall correctly, they weren't that bad," Billy remarked.

"I really don't want to know what you're talking about; can we please go back to this moon mission?" Zack asked.

"Right. Well. Shortly before we were all called in, I was suddenly teleported from my home to Eltar."

"Eltar?" Trini asked. "Where Zordon and Alpha are from."

"Exactly. I had no idea why I was there, but that there was a really good reason for it. I had been having some strange dreams about it before hand and thought if I ever came out of retirement I'd explore the things I saw in my dream. I wandered around for a while and realized things were working out the same way my dream was going. And as I kept going I soon found this…structure that led into the ground. Like a temple that had been attacked and went inside. It looked like the Command Center, but different. I can't really explain it but I felt like I belonged there, like I was being protected. There was a Power Tube and I saw a robot that looked like Alpha."

"Did he say anything?" Kimberly asked.

Tommy shook his head. "He was destroyed."

She nodded somberly.

"I put my hand against the Power Tube and it started to glow. But not like a regular glow, it was my ranger colors. Green, White, and Red. The light moved into me and when it faded a crystal fell into my hands. As soon as I touched it, it erupted into points of light and my Zeo morpher appeared on my wrist. And there was the Tyrannosaurus Power Coin, and the Lightning Cruiser came back, my Turbo Zord. Because I had the Tyrannosaurs Power Coin as soon as I was back on Earth I contacted Jason to tell him what had been going on. Then we were sent to the moon and he was able to morph again. I knew then there was a reason he could morph again. I just didn't know it'd be like this."

"So you can morph into your Mighty Morphin', Zeo, _and_ Turbo forms?" Avalon asked.

Tommy nodded.

"If you did that before we created the Dino Thunder powers," Hayley started. She trailed off for a moment, pressing her hand against her chin. She shook her head, unable to discern what was going on. "Then you knew Mesogog was going to become a threat?"

"No," Tommy said. "I didn't know any of this was going to happen. But as we've learned through our time as rangers, everything happens for a reason. And…anything is possible."

His inner falcon cawed loudly. So loud it was as if the others heard it as well, they looked around as if to place it. There was a sudden glow around the rangers in their respective colors. Tommy watched as what looked like a falcon glided around him, a tiger ran around Avalon, a wolf ran around Billy, a crane flew around Kimberly, a Tyrannosaurus Rex stomped around Jason, a Mastodon strolled around Zack, and a Saber-Tooth Tiger bounded around Trini. Then the light faded again.

"What was that?" Zack asked.

"It was peculiar," Billy agreed. "Sort of like an astral projection but more in-tuned with our powers. It's like Zordon and Alpha said, once you have the power, it's always there. We were chosen for a reason and those qualities are always with us."

"Billy's right," Trini agreed. "Even though we haven't been able to morph, we've been able to help spread peace in our own ways."

Without a word, Tommy led his friends to the far side of the lab and pressed his hand against the wall. A panel opened up and he moved his hand against it. A green light scanned his palm then blinked twice. The wall opened and the group walked into a hidden room where a pedestal sat in the center, holding onto a gray relic.

It shone every few seconds but its light was faded.

"This is what I found when I had my powers restored," Tommy explained. "And I don't know how to explain it, but, I _know_ it has some of Zordon's energy in it. He helped me restore my powers."

"But Zordon was destroyed, mate," Avalon reminded him.

"Maybe not."

Kimberly walked up to Tommy's side and looked down at the relic. She let out a long breath and Tommy glanced at her, seeing tears appear at the corners of her eyes. But they weren't tears of sadness; they were of overwhelming emotion; happiness and determination to become rangers again and save the world. She took a deep breath, bringing her hand to her chest and turned, looking Tommy in the eye.

"So we're going to use this to get our powers back?" Kimberly asked.

"Once we get to Eltar, yes. But not just _our_ powers." Tommy looked each of his friends in the eye. "Every past ranger team's powers."

* * *

Okay, now that the others know Jason can morph and that the they need to get to Eltar to have their powers restored, the pacing will move faster. I promise. Especially as I have to bring up the interpersonal relationships with the rangers more, and I'm sure some are interested to know what's going to happen with Tommy and Kim and Avalon and Billy and Conner and Kira and Trent and others.

Thanks to **Adela, dguice, Ashley, lizziestrong, brankel1, and TerraHart** for reviewing.

Please remember to review this one, I'm serious about my writing and my stories, and if you have anything to comment about, anything to mention, or anything to say, I would love to hear it and it motivates me to write more. I respond to every review I get even if it's anonymous.

I'm available to reach by PM here, on my twitter account AvalonAvenue and my tumblr AvalonBayBlog.

 **~Av**


	28. Chapter 28: It's All in the News

**Chapter 28**

 _It's All in the News_

* * *

The White Dino Thunder Ranger ran rangers ragged, not including attacks from the Putties, Cogs, and Pirranatrons. What was running the rangers even more ragged was the desperation of the older rangers to figure out whether or not it was true they could go to Eltar to get their powers back as well as trying to figure out what Rita, Zedd, The Machine Empire, and Divatox's appearances were truly for. Their presence was psychologically damaging enough—as Zack commented it was like they were real life zombies—but to not know what Mesogog wanted other than to destroy them was very stressful.

So much so that Tommy, Avalon, and Hayley made the executive decision to have the rangers focus on capturing and defeating the White Ranger rather than dealing with the oddly concocted plan to get to Eltar. So far there wasn't a lot of progress in that area as Billy was having difficulty getting into contact with General Norquist, and was only a few more attempts away from traveling back to Angel Grove to see him in person. Not to mention having to wait for the other teams to get back to Tommy for potentially traveling to Reefside, much like Jason, Kimberly, Zack, Trini, and Billy had.

Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Bailey, on the other hand, continued to balance their ranger life with their school life. With some success and some negatives, the same that the other rangers had seen in their own day and seemed to continuously feel even without having powers themselves. Save for Tommy and Jason as of late.

Bailey ran her brush through her hair a few times before taking a step back to look at her reflection in the mirror. She turned back and forth, studying the front and back of her outfit before turning to her sister, who was getting ready for the day as well.

"How do I look?" She asked.

Avalon lowered the mascara wand from her eyes and glanced at her sister. She looked her up and down, taking in the purple off-the-shoulder blouse, dark jean skirt, and brown boots she wore. Her silver bracelet with the purple Dino Gem that changed into her morpher when the time came completed the look.

"You look great, Bay," Avalon said, honestly. She motioned for Bailey to sit down in her chair at the mirror and grabbed a few purple scrunchies to brush her hair into a pair of pigtails. "Not that I'd say if you weren't. But good genes run in the family, yeah?"

Bailey laughed. "And you say you don't have an ego, Booger."

"I don't, Goober. I've just wallowed in misery so long that I've grown allergic to it."

"Boofhead."

Avalon laughed and tapped her little sister on the head. "Keep it up and I won't be so nice the next time you want to borrow my clothes." She finished working the brush through one half of Bailey's hair. With a few flick of her wrists, she tied up the pigtail before moving to the other side to make another one.

"I can't borrow them, you're too short," Bailey teased back. There was a sudden clunk atop her head and a cry of pain escaped Bailey's mouth. She brought her hands up to cover her welt and tilted her head back to glare at Avalon, who raised a playful eyebrow in response. "What? I can't help it that you're vertically challenged."

"So you got the height and the brains in the family, what did I get?"

"The brawn and the personality." Bailey cleared her throat, shifting in her chair. "Um, Av. Conner has a soccer game after school today so I'm going to be back a little late. Can you cover me on doing the dishes?"

"Bay, you're eighteen years old. I think you can tell Tommy that you fancy Conner and that you're going to do the dishes later."

Almost instantly, Bailey whipped around and started to protest Avalon's claims. But Avalon crossed her arms and looked down at her sister with a pointed expression. Finally, Bailey rolled her eyes and turned away from her. "Oh shut up."

"I'm not saying it's obvious, sis, I'm just saying it's obvious to me. I know whenever you get a crush on someone. You acted the same way when you liked Billy and Fred. I'm just a little surprised because Conner doesn't really seem like your type."

"You mean that he's a 'dumb jock'?"

Avalon paused in her brushing. "I didn't say he was a 'dumb jock'. If anything, he just doesn't know his potential. Like when he first got his powers and he was so worried about being able to split soccer. He wanted to quit being a ranger because he didn't think he could do it, yeah?" Bailey nodded. "I reckon it's the same with soccer and his school work. He's been praised so much for his soccer skills that he doesn't know how to apply that same dedication to school."

"And people say you're not smart."

"No, Bay, _you_ say I'm not smart."

"Just not smarter than me." Bailey turned around in her seat, grabbing onto the back of her chair to grin at her older sister. "He's really cute."

"Don't let Kim hear you say that. Somehow, she has this sonar radar that lets her know whenever something crush related is going around." Avalon smirked and reached out, tapping her sister on the tip of her nose. "Yeah, he's cute."

"Doesn't really seem like _your_ type," Bailey pointed out.

Avalon gave a casual shrug. "Types don't really matter to me. Guy or girl as long as they're nice and don't get on my nerves too much I'm good." She took a step back and examined her work. "Ace! It's a beaut. You can go now."

"Thanks, Av!" Bailey hurried to pull on her striped gloves before getting her backpack. "I'll see you later, I have to catch a ride with Tommy or else he'll leave without me." She paused. "When am I going to get the chance to get my driver's license?"

"Once you figure out which one to get first. Your Aussie or your California."

"No worries. Either test couldn't be too difficult for me."

Avalon swatted at her sister's butt, pushing her out of the room. "Ah, rack off you bloody show pony! Have a good day."

"I will. Bye, Av!" Bailey waved to her sister then hurried to the kitchen to get Bailey hurried from the room and went to the kitchen to get her lunch bag. She picked it up just as Zack finished his large bowl of cereal and let out a loud, wet burp. "Gross. Zack, I like eating with you but I don't like the feeling of wanting to throw up at all times of the day."

He smiled and patted his stomach. "Let me just say once you don't have the luxury of being able to eat whatever you want, you become very glad when you do." He reached his arms over his head. "Though the one thing about being in jail is that my grocery bill went down."

Bailey frowned. "That's not funny."

"I know, but there's a silver lining to everything. I became an amazing cook. You can let me know what you think when you have lunch today and please, don't skip out on the complements."

Bailey's eyebrows rose, she looked into the bag at the immaculately made sandwich inside. Plus, what smelled like a freshly baked cook. Actually, that wasn't so surprising. Tommy wasn't a very good cook and Avalon never made anything as extravagant as Zack did. If he was going to stay at the Oliver house much longer, they should definitely put him to work. It'd keep Tommy from potentially killing them, Avalon from stressing due to being the one that did the most cooking, and Bailey would save money on buying lunch every day.

"I hope you don't move out anytime soon, Zack. I'd definitely miss you," she remarked.

"Thanks, Bay," Zack replied.

"Bailey! Come on!" Tommy called from the front door. "We're going to be late."

"Tommy on time? That's something I never thought I'd hear. See you later, kid."

"Bye." Bailey hurried to the front of the house where Tommy was looking at his watch, pacing back and forth. "What's up with you, bro? I haven't seen you this stressed since the time you and Kim agonized over saying 'I love you' to each other for the first time."

Tommy gave her a funny look. "Do you think that'll help me with parent-teacher conferences?" He opened the front door and the two left the house, walking to his jeep. Bailey jumped into the passenger seat without opening the door first, chucking her backpack into the backseat.

"I don't know. Some of the mother's may probably like it. But their husbands would kill you, yeah?" She smiled in amusement. Tommy rolled his eyes and started the jeep. Soon they were on their way to school. "Speaking of which, you can't think everyone could come back and you not be asked the question."

Shifting uncomfortably in his seat, Tommy pointedly kept his eyes away from his little sister. "What question?"

" _The_ question. The one about seeing your ex-girlfriend again. And, you know, potentially still having feelings for her."

"Sheesh, even Zack and Kim were getting in on this when we all went out to dinner," Tommy said. With a roll of his eyes, he pulled on the steering wheel to turn into the teacher's parking lot. "Before we had even gotten out food they were wondering who was single and who was dating someone."

"And?" Bailey pressed.

"And nothing."

"Come on." Bailey turned her head and rested it on the headrest so she could face her brother completely.

She had grown to love Tommy as a brother long before her parents gave up their rights to her and Avalon and the Olivers adopted them. And since then they continued to grow closer she knew him inside and out and would call him out in when she got the chance—which annoyed him. Heck, judging by the constant teasing she and Avalon threw his way she was surprised he hadn't snapped yet.

 _He must be glad for the distraction,_ she thought. _To keep from the house being so quiet. He puts up with it better now._

It'd be terrible if Tommy couldn't take it, he was the one who helped her through her first period for God's sake. _And_ he and Kim were there to help her with her first boyfriend, Fred Kelman. Huh, she hadn't really thought about him in a long time. She could understand why Tommy would be hesitant about questions about Kim. But their romance hadn't been a regular romance, they were together in an experience no one else would have and that spurned their passion even further.

Bailey wondered about that sometimes. How her relationship with Fred would've fared had he been a ranger, too. It wasn't like kids her age couldn't' be ranger, she and Justin Stewart had proved it. She had given up being a ranger for that reason—partially, anyway. She wanted to know what it was like to be a regular teen, to know what it was like to have fun and not have any responsibilities more than school on her shoulders. And she wanted to be able to spend more time with Fred. If she went back and had the option to do it again…she didn't know what she'd do.

Tommy seemed to be thinking the same, for he said, "Kim and I are different people now and if something's there, something's there. If not, then that's okay, too. But she's not my only ex, you seem to be forgetting about Kat."

"I'm not forgetting Kat. It's just hard to remember _that_ relationship compared to you and Kim because you didn't keep throwing that in our faces."

Tommy managed to quell the chuckle that threatened to leave his lips. The last thing he needed was to give Bailey more ammo to pelt him with. Instead, he reached out and gently pushed her head aside. "Go to class. Don't forget I have the power to give you detentions if I want."

Bailey grinned. "Will it count as me being late when you were the one that drove me here?"

"Yes, but that's because you wanted to talk about my love life rather than getting inside. Now, go."

"Geez, for people who hadn't grown up together, you and Av act alike; aggro." Bailey slid out of the jeep and grabbed her backpack from the backseat. Hoisting it over her shoulder, she looked around, expecting to find Kira, Conner, Ethan, and Trent doing last minute work on the projects they were presenting that day. Or at least the red, blue, and yellow rangers talking about the fight they went through the night before. She didn't find them outside and figured they had to be at their lockers, starting in.

The next thing she knew there was a camera shoved in her face by Devin and Cassidy was walking at her side, speaking rapidly into a microphone. "I'm here with Abigail Oliver-Mitchell—"

"—I prefer Bailey," Bailey tried to say, but Cassidy kept on talking.

"Who may have some of the inside scoop on Dr. Oliver and what he's really doing here in Reefside." Cassidy reached out with her microphone and shoved it into Bailey's face. "The students want to know what's up with the new teacher. What brings him here?"

A patient smile came to Bailey's face. "If there's anything you want to know, just ask him, yeah?" She didn't find Cassidy to be as bad as the others had said. She could be pushy and liked to get her way, but there was nothing inherently bad about that. She had ambition and it was a great quality to have. "He'd do much better with a direct question rather than rumor."

"That source didn't pan out. So we thought we'd go with the next best source," Cassidy said. She shoved the microphone back into Bailey's face, accidentally bashing her in the nose. Bailey stopped and brought her hand up to pinch her nostrils, waiting for the throbbing to subside. Cassidy glared over her shoulder at Devin. "Are you getting this?"

Devin nodded the camera, then stopped when he noticed Cassidy glare even harder, then nodded his head. "No worries, Cass. I'm getting everything."

Cassidy's glare was suddenly gone, a bright smile replacing it. "What brings you to Reefside?"

"New school. Better opportunities," Bailey explained. Of course she hadn't expected those opportunities being to become a ranger again, but that was a serendipitous side effect. "Your science program is better than some of the other ones I've been to."

"So you've moved a lot," Devin remarked.

"Blue Bay Harbor before moving to Reefside, Mariner Bay before that, and of course Angel Grove," Cassidy said. Bailey waved a hand, motioning for her to get to the point as they walked into the school. "And every place you went, Power Rangers just so happened to show up. Must've been scary."

"You get used to it. There's plenty of strange things out there, it's no surprise that rangers ended up here, yeah?"

"But why would Dr. Tommy Oliver, renowned scientist who had a budding career in the sciences, who has a PHD, decide to quit his research studies and come teach at a California High School?"

"It was his decision, I just followed him." Bailey squeezed her eyes shut, immediately realizing her mistake. Now it was going to open up the reason she and Avalon had moved and it wasn't going to be hard to figure things out from where. Bailey started to stammer an excuse to leave the interview, starting to turn down a random hallway. She didn't know the school well enough, so maybe she'd get lost and lose Cassidy.

If she were lucky.

"That's the other part that we found interesting," Cassidy said quickly, grabbing Bailey's attention. "Your parents had passed and that's what brought you to Reefside, for the funeral. Why not before? If your brother was here? And why is it that neither of you want to speak about Angel Grove? Is there some sort of a past you're trying to leave behind?"

"No, nothing like tha—"

"—What about your sister, Avalon?"

Bailey felt her breath catch in her throat. Deflecting being a Power Ranger and her means for moving was easy. All she had to say was that part of her past was over and she didn't was to relive it again. But if Cassidy and Devin already knew about them living in Angel Grove, Mariner Bay, and Blue Bay Harbor and knew that the Olivers had passed recently, it wouldn't take too long for them to question their last names to Tommy's. Pushing a little bit further and things would spill out.

Not that Avalon was really keeping her gang past a secret nowadays, but she never went right out and said 'hi, I'm an ex-gang member' when she first met. She never really did get over her initial distrust of people and if Cassidy and Devin suddenly surrounded her with a camera and a microphone asking a barrage of question, they'd probably end up in the hospital.

So Bailey took in a deep breath and smiled. "She's as private as Tommy. Good luck." Side-stepping the two, she walked into homeroom, finding everyone grouped together in their project assignments. She went over to Ethan, who sat calmly at his seat, twirling a pencil in his fingers. Conner, Kira, and Ethan sat nearby, all leaning over a stack of note cards.

"Looks like everyone's freaking out," Bailey remarked, lowering herself onto her stool.

"You have no idea," Ethan agreed. "It's like they left their project until the last minute or something." He smiled smugly at her and Bailey couldn't help but laugh. At least there was someone like her who understood her need to get things done instead of putting them off. She'd always been like that and it wouldn't change anytime soon. "All the while I was able to sit back and beat my computer game, freeing up some well needed time to start a new one."

"Really? It's done nothing but free up more time for Mesogog to run me ragged," Bailey commented. She crossed her legs at the knee. "It's a wonder I haven't keeled over from acute exhaustion yet. Though from my calculations I could use the point in time I'd be cataleptic to catch up on the deficit of sleep I'm already getting."

The two laughed as the rest of the class filled the room.

"What's so funny?" Conner asked. He spun his ever-present soccer ball in his hands. "Because it definitely can't be these dumb projects we have to present."

"Just be glad we have it done," Kira said. She rested her chin in her hands, rolling her eyes. "I can't imagine having to spend some more time on this."

"You and me both," Trent agreed. "My dad was breathing down my neck to make sure I have it done _and_ constantly make sure I have all of my homework done."

"Man, he needs to get a life." Conner then started to spin the ball on his finger like a basketball. Kira reached out and snatched the ball from atop his outstretched finger and looked it over with a raised eyebrow.

"Like the one you have?" She shot back.

"Just because I like to play sports instead of study doesn't mean I have a life," he defended himself.

"Hmm. I thought that's exactly what it meant." Kira smirked and pressed the soccer ball into Conner's stomach. The red ranger looked annoyed for a second before taking the ball from her, his hand brushing over hers. Then his annoyed expression softened and he smiled in amusement.

Kira's eyebrows rose in surprise, not having a comeback shot her way, and smiled a little, too. She took a step back and jostled Trent, making her jump when she realized he was right behind her. She quickly backed away from him, panic flashing over her face. Then she relaxed. "Oh. Sorry, Trent."

"It's no problem," Trent replied. He started to say something else but was cut off by Cassidy, who roughly shoved by him, elbowing him in the back. Devin quickly apologized for her, carefully holding his camera out of the way so he didn't accidentally hit anyone. "What's gotten into her?"

"Me, probably," Bailey said. "She was badgering me about why Tommy, Av, and I moved to Angel Grove and I wouldn't give her any answers."

"That'll do it," Kira said. "Every time she doesn't get her way, she takes it out on everyone else."

Bailey made a humming sound. She rested her chin in her palm and turned her gaze to Conner. "I know I said it before, but I still can't believe you used to date her."

Conner rolled his eyes. "Neither can I," he, Ethan, and Kira said in unison.

"Alright, I know I'm late so we need to get started on these presentations," Tommy said, crossing the room to his desk in a few long strides. He set his briefcase down and clapped his hands together, rubbing them vigorously. "Who wants to go first?"

Conner ducked his head, working hard to keep his gaze away from Tommy. He even pressed his hands together and gave a silent prayer of which Bailey could only hear small bits and pieces of. He lifted his head, catching her eye and smiled. Bailey smiled back, moving her hand to her mouth to keep from giggling.

She couldn't help it.

He was so cute.

* * *

"Way to go, Conner!"

"Great job!"

"You played awesome, today!"

Conner grinned, basking in the praise he received from the cheerleaders as he left the locker room. Oh yeah, that hit the spot. The day was going better for him than he ever could imagine. He, Kira, and Trent managed to present their project to the class without any other problems. Dr. O had a few things to say but it sounded like they were going to get a good grade. Which was one of the best news he could get, considering the parent-teacher conferences that were going on after school that day. It worked out well for him so that while the meetings were going on, he would play at his soccer game and that meant his step-father wouldn't be hovering over him screaming obscenities on the sidelines of what he did right and wrong.

Because that pressure wasn't put on him he played one of the best games of his life. If not _the_ best game of his life. Every play worked out as well as he could have pictured it, he ran faster and harder than he had ever done before, making sure not to use his powers of course. His teammates played just as hard, making each play come together with little work. He scored so many times he was sure his career points were close to the 1000 mark at this point and that would be great for college transcripts. He actually expected the sky to open up and for a rainfall of Tyrannodrones to attack. But nothing out of the ordinary happened and he couldn't have been more excited.

Stepping outside the athletic building, Conner found Bailey sitting on the bleachers, gently kicking her legs back and forth. Waiting for him. When she spotted him, Bailey jumped to the ground and walked to him. "Hey!" She greeted him. "That was an awesome game!"

"Was it?" He tried to be a little modest but couldn't fake it. "Yeah, it was."

"I knew you weren't very modest, mate, but you could pretend a little bit." Bailey said. Her smile widened. "Well, after today I guess you do have bragging points."

"You know it." Conner winked at her. He laughed, pulling on the strap to his sports bag.

"Kira and Ethan came to watch too but they couldn't stay," Bailey said. "They wanted me to say congratulations, though."

"Ethan, I buy, but not Kira. She didn't have any snarky remark about how I would be better off rolling in the mud with how much I'd smell? Or using my brains for plays to remember my homework and to study for tests?"

"No."

"Huh, that doesn't sound like her."

"Or else she's in a good mood." The two started to walk across the soccer field. "Judging by the smile on your face, it looks like your mood isn't going to be broken for a long time."

"Definitely not." The only thing that could tear it apart would be his step-father finding something wrong with the game. But he wasn't going to be back home until a little bit later, late enough so that he could just go straight to his room and chill for the rest of the night. Then he'd get the riot act the next morning. Just so long as he was able to get at least a day before his happiness was broken. "Did you have fun, watching?"

"Oh yeah. The team here is ace. I'm impressed."

"That's good. I I work hard to impress the ladies." Conner spun his soccer ball in his hands. He stopped, seeing someone sitting on the player's bench they neared. "Hey, is that Trent?" Bailey followed his gaze and nodded. "How long as he been there?"

"I don't know," Bailey said slowly. "I didn't even notice." She tucked her hair behind her ear. "He doesn't look so good."

The two exchanged a glance before increasing their stride at the same time to reach him. Despite the annoyance he felt towards Trent due to him flaking on their study groups, he could see there was something going on with him. He sat on the far edge of the bench, turned sideways, one hand reached up to grasp the back of the bench, the other on his knee. As if he was so weak he only made it that far after the game. Conner studied him, watching as he took a few deep breaths, a sheen of sweat laying over his forehead. He reached up to wipe it away and Conner could see his face had turned pale.

"Hey Trent, are you alright?" He asked once the two came close enough.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Trent grunted. Almost as if it pained him to speak.

Conner and Bailey exchanged a look. Conner tucked his soccer ball under his arm and took a step closer to Trent. "No offense, dude. But you don't look fine."

"I'm just resting," Trent gasped.

Bailey took her turn to try and reason with him. "Maybe we should call your dad, mate. You really aren't looking too god."

"No, don't!" Trent surged to his feet with sudden ferocity. He gasped, wrapping an arm around his stomach. "Just leave me alone, okay?!" Before Conner and Bailey could stop him, he started across the field, moving at a fast pace.

Conner held out his arms and slapped them to his sides. "We tried," he said.

"I wish there was something else we could do. I reckon we should still call his dad," Bailey suggested.

"No. Trust me, I know dads. If Anton Mercer is as bad as I think he is, we don't want to say anything to him. He'll probably lock Trent in his room for the rest of his life or something. He's like, creepy authoritative from what we've seen of him at the Cyberspace," Conner said. He held out his arm, putting it around Bailey's shoulders. "So, where are you taking me for dinner?"

"Excuse me, I thought you were the one who was going to take _me_ out for dinner, as a thank you for helping you study," Bailey shot back.

"Shouldn't I be getting some perks from this? I just won a really big soccer game, you know."

"And I single-handedly gave you life-long study skills that'll keep you from failing."

"How about this?" Conner squeezed Bailey's shoulder and moved to stand in front of her. He lowered his top half to press the soccer ball against her chest. "You pay for dinner tonight. And I'll pay next time. But I hope you don't mind, I have a craving for a seafood buffet. I worked hard and I'm starving."

Bailey laughed, shaking her head. "You can be such a boofhead, sometimes," she said.

"Is that a good thing?" Conner asked.

Bailey smiled, reached out her hands to pull Conner closer, and kissed him.

* * *

Tommy looked at his watch and closed his briefcase. The last of the parent-teacher conferences had ended and he didn't need to spend a second longer at school. Not only did he already have to deal with enough parents that didn't know their kid was failing, others that cared a little _too_ much about their kid's grades, and those that didn't' care at all, but he didn't want to be caught by Principal Randall either.

"So _this_ is where Dr. Tommy Oliver works."

Tommy looked over at the doorway of his classroom as soon as the voice started to speak. In some ways he knew Kimberly was there even before she had opened her mouth. Maybe it was the falcon inside him that still looked for its crane. Or maybe it was that he knew her so well it was that he could sense her. They had shared something special when they were young and that was never going to chance.

"I have to admit, it's really weird to know you're a doctor now," Kimberly said. She giggled softly. "I mean, not a _real_ one—"

"—I'm a real doctor, Kim," Tommy interrupted her. "I know I'm not licensed to perform any medical marvels but I'm still a real doctor." He thought for a moment. "Actually, there are some things that I can do, medically speaking, but it's not something I'd like to brag about." Having to stitch up his wounds he sustained from the island explosion gave him those skills. Waiting for rescue had given him skills in other areas, but he wasn't going to brag about those, either.

"You never were a braggart," Kimberly pointed out. She walked over to his desk and smile down at his briefcase. "Wow, all leather and everything. All you need now is some glasses and I'm sure these kids will _really_ take you seriously."

"I do wear glasses sometimes, but trust me; it doesn't do so much for my street cred." Tommy lifted the briefcase and held out an arm, motioning for Kimberly to follow him out of the room. "So what brings you here?"

"You mean apart from the obvious?" Kimberly shot back.

Tommy gave her a blank look. Kimberly raised an eyebrow and looked around before reaching out and punching Tommy on the arm. "Ow! Kim!" He grasped the sore spot, nearly dropping his briefcase. He forgot how hard she could punch and briefly wondered if it was a good idea to make her super powered again. "What did you do that for?"

"Thomas Oliver, you can't just tell us that we can get our powers back and go on with your day like everything's normal," Kimberly hissed. She crossed her arms. "We're not just talking about Reefside; we're talking about the world now that Rita and Zedd are back."

"Kim, you're acting like I _wanted_ all of this to happen," Tommy defended himself.

"You decided to keep it a secret until you sprang Jason us like that," Kimberly said. She wagged her finger. "And you better believe Av, Trini, and I already gave him a piece of our minds, too!" Tommy started to smile a little, already able to picture how they probably reamed him out for it. Zack had to have gotten in on it, too. Kimberly then reached out and punched him again. "This isn't funny!"

Tommy sucked in a deep breath. He knew he was running this risk, not saying anything. Of the others being mad. He was naïve to think that their initial confusion would be all that they'd felt, they had to be angry. But it wasn't something he planned, it just happened. As it was, he couldn't say anything about his space mission to Eltar. There wasn't much he could say about the Forever Red mission either, other than a few details.

She was right, though.

It wasn't fair that they didn't know.

And he said as much.

"Of course I'm right," Kimberly said. Then her face softened. "But Tommy, if we can do this...get to Eltar and get our powers back. Do we know for sure that we'll be able to beat these guys? We had to get three different power upgrades and we never actually beat Rita and Zedd. The Machine Empire somehow pulled themselves back together and Divatox…we thought Zordon's energy field had destroyed them all."

"I know," Tommy said. He tossed and turned about it since those days were over. Every now and then he still had nightmares about their past adventures. No matter how much he tried to move on it wasn't going to go away, even stepping back to be more of a mentor role didn't do much to quell the city's need for him. He had to be the Black Dino Ranger. "But we don't have a choice now. _I_ don't have a choice now."

Kimberly didn't have to ask to know what he meant. She didn't know much of what happened on the island, who he worked with, what they did, but intuitively she still knew him. It was the same reason she had gone to talk to him rather than Jason or Billy, two of the other people he had grown the closest to during their tenure as rangers. Jason was his best friend and second in command when he became leader, and while Avalon had taken the second in command position once Jason left, Billy had been a good voice to go to in terms of strategic planning they implemented.

But Kimberly knew his emotions and what he was really feeling.

"Mesogog…I don't doubt he'll be the one that'll destroy the Earth, turn it back in time, kill all humankind, whatever it is he wants to do. I think he'll be the one to do. And that scares me more than anything else the rest of these guys had managed to do."

"So why didn't you—"

"The last thing I want to do is push everyone into a battle that's going to lead to their deaths. Mesogog has sent out some of the strongest monsters these guys have faced and now that he's lined up with Zedd, that's even worse! Especially because this is my fault. If it wasn't for me having made the tech that he's now using. None of this would be happening."

"If it wasn't for you and Hayley making the Dino powers Reefside wouldn't have anyone to stop him from this," Kimberly reminded him.

"And it all continues to come back to me," Tommy said. "And I've got to fix this."

"Tommy, you're not working alone anymore. You're part of a team again. Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Bailey need you to lead them."

"I'm not the leader anymore, Kim. Conner is." Tommy pressed his lips together. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath through his nose. "And they look up to me to let them know what to do. How do you think I'd feel if I sent them into battle that got them killed?"

"We've faced that reality before, what's so different now?"

Tommy realized he made a mistake in talking to Kim like this. Then he'd have to tell the truth. The _whole_ truth that he hadn't even told Bailey and Avalon yet. The truth he hadn't rationally admitted to himself yet.

Kimberly reached out her hand and placed it on Tommy's shoulder, gently rubbing it in comfort.

At that opportune moment, Cassidy and Devin walked around the corner and spotted Tommy. Not wanting to miss her chance, Cassidy instructed Devin to start shooting the adults down the hallway. If there was anything that their viewers wanted, it was rumors, facts, and wanting answers.

And there wasn't anything they wanted to know more than what made their new teacher, Dr. Tommy Oliver, tick.

* * *

Zeltrax walked to Mesogog. "They're all set. The monsters are in their posts and are ready to attack."

"Excellent," Mesogog hissed. He clasped his scaly hands behind his back. "We'll start off with Divatox and the Pirranatrons just to get the rangers started. Then we'll send out stronger monsters while we get everything in place. Soon the rangers will realize that they can't stop me from destroying all humans on this planet."

"The Nightmare monster is ready for them as well, the sooner we get to know their fears, the more vulnerable they'll be," Zeltrax agreed.

Mesogog's eyes narrowed at Zeltrax.

Yes, the nightmare monster was to be very helpful.

But if those rangers were planning on getting their powers back, then he needed to have another ace up his sleeve. The psychological damage of seeing their old foes coming back hadn't done as much as he hoped. Maybe the revelation of a betrayer in their midst would do it.

* * *

 **A/N:** I was originally going to have a monster fight in this chapter but realized it worked better in the next one. Especially since the next one really puts Mesogog's plan into motion. You'll see more of Rita, Zedd, Divatox, and King Mondo with it, too.

Getting more into Tommy like this is interesting to me because we all know he's a strong ranger. He's been the leader of many teams and made lots of decisions for battle plans. But we don't know how they actually take its toll on him (as most focus on the green ranger part) and it's very interesting to me.

So, what did you think?

Thanks to **Adela, SpecialK92, dguice, lizziestrong, brankel1, Ashley and TerraHart** for reviewing.

Please remember to review this one, I'm serious about my writing and my stories, and if you have anything to comment about, anything to mention, or anything to say, I would love to hear it and it motivates me to write more. I respond to every review I get even if it's anonymous.

I'm available to reach by PM here, on my twitter account AvalonAvenue and my tumblr AvalonBayBlog.

 **~Av**


	29. Chapter 29: Disappearances and Arrivals

**Chapter 29**

 _Disappearances and Arrivals_

* * *

Kira slammed onto her back as Tommy stood over her. She slammed her fist onto the practice mat and growled. Rolling over, onto her knees, she tried to catch her breath. All the while, Tommy stood behind her, pacing back and forth.

"C'mon Kira, we've been over this one hundred times," Tommy said to her. "Don't give away what you're going to do."

"I'm not trying to," Kira replied.

She breathed heavily, trying to catch her breath. It didn't help that Conner, Ethan, and Bailey were standing nearby, watching her mess up as well. I mean, how many times could you be slammed to a practice mat before you started to lose faith in yourself. Especially when you were the last one to get what was being taught to you? Conner and Ethan got it after a few tries, with Bailey working a little bit faster.

 _Of course,_ Kira reminded herself. _She's known Tommy forever, and has been trained by him and has been a ranger before. She knows what to do to take him down when the time is needed._ Conner and Ethan worked to their strengths as well; Conner used his brute strength and his speed from his Tyranno power. Ethan used his smarts and his shielding skin from the Tricera power. Even Bailey's smarts and her powerful punch from the Cephala power did a lot of damage.

Kira's Ptera Scream didn't seem to be doing too much. How many times could she potentially break the screens on the computers, the windows on the zords, or the beakers of the scientific studies that were going on in the lab before it worked? Not to mention she had a habit of standing still whenever she used her Ptera scream without morphing. It was difficult to remind herself to move and do it when she was already using so much of her energy to scream in the first place.

That certainly left her open for attack. Especially when the other person could anticipate it coming. And Tommy was keen to adapt to each of the rangers' fighting styles.

Avalon attacking them didn't help much either. She didn't have the same training as Tommy or Bailey, she quickly explained it off by saying she learned her own tactics of self-defense when Conner, Kira, and Ethan asked about it. But Kira couldn't help but notice Bailey's face turn a little pale as she looked away from her sister. There was clearly something else to the story and Kira certainly was curious about it. But she wasn't nosy.

Besides, if she waited long enough, Conner and Ethan would probably figure it out on their own. They were the ones that couldn't stand to take 'no' for an answer. They were the ones who had them fall into the whole Power Ranger thing anyway. All because they couldn't help but snoop around so much.

Now she was directly blaming them for the humiliation she was feeling.

"You can't let your frustration get in the way of things," Avalon reminded her. "That's when the other side starts to win. Mesogog has probably been watching us more than any of our other enemies has. He's smarter and will use _anything_ you give him to his advantage." She stood nearby, holding onto what looked like a mini laptop. Probably keeping notes of how everyone was doing. That made Kira's stomach drop even further. Direct comparison and competition sucked.

If she were onstage it would be a completely different thing. There, Kira shined. She was the best. She could do anything she set her mind to. Here, as hard as she was working, it seemed like her being chosen to be a Power Ranger was a decision she probably wasn't the right one for. Now that the White Ranger was around, constantly throwing them off their game, that made it worse.

Kira started to say something back then stopped. It was no use. No matter what she said, she knew what she had to do. She had to get back to work and make sure she was a well-rounded ranger who could take on each and everything that came her way.

She couldn't complain.

"Okay," Kira said.

"Let's try again," Tommy said.

Ethan flashed Kira a encouraging smile. "You can do it, Kira."

"Yeah, take him down," Conner agreed.

Tommy uncrossed his arms and backed away until he was at the edge of the practice mat once more. Kira moved to the other side, giving herself space to stretch her arms and legs. Then she turned back to Tommy and brought up her fists, waiting for the signal. _Maybe my fighting stance is off_ , she wasn't a fighter, she was a musician. So, trying to imitate everything Tommy was showing them was hard.

"Go," Avalon called.

Kira launched herself towards Tommy, following his blinding speed as he rushed towards her. Every blow he sent her way she blocked with her fist or with the side of her arm. A well-placed kick or punch made Tommy call out, "Good!" before starting off again. Kira kept up the best she could, making sure she didn't her movements away with her eyes. She even tried feinting to the left or right every now and then that worked out well. Tommy became tripped up at one point and she could see the frustration rage through his eyes. The same thing she saw when he was fighting the others. That was a good thing. It meant they were coming up with different ways to trick those coming at them.

Then Kira allowed herself to become too excited at her achievements and Tommy knocked her flat on her back. The wind was knocked out of Kira's mouth and she sucked in her breath, trying her best to keep from panicking. She had felt it before, knew the tips and tricks to get out of it. But this time, it was different. Something in her mind changed and she wasn't in the lab anymore. She was in her house, in her room, with her father kneeling over her, hands around his neck.

Kira gasped, and brought up her hands to knocked her father away. He spat on her and sent a strong punch to the side of her face. Kira cried out in pain. Her legs shuffled along the ground, frantically trying to push herself away from her father.

In reality, Kira was thrashing hard against Tommy, gritting her teeth, doing everything possible to knock him off her. Her breathing became labored as the seconds passed until she finally let out a Ptera scream right into Tommy's face. He closed his eyes and turned his head away, not immediately letting her go as the sound blasted his ear drums.

"Let go!" Kira shouted. "I'm sorry! Let go of me!"

Tommy immediately released Kira's shoulders and backed away from her. Avalon's eyebrows came together in concern and Conner, Ethan, and Bailey looked at each other in surprise. Silence rang through the room, only broken by the sounds of Kira's laborious breathing. Her chest heaved and she brought shaking hands up to cover her face. She closed her eyes, embarrassed and scared, not knowing what had just happened. She could've sworn her father was there, that he was…

No.

 _No, he's not here,_ Kira reminded herself. _He's not here. He's not going to get you. He's not coming to attack you._ Tears started to well up into Kira's eyes but she blinked them back, letting out a long breath. Finally, she sat up, pushing her hair behind her ears.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I don't…I don't know…"

"Kira, it's okay," Tommy said gently. He cleared his throat and glanced at Avalon, who was looking back at him. "I think we're done for today. Good job, everyone. We'll pick this up again later." He took one last look at Kira before leaving the room with Avalon.

Ethan went over to help Kira up. He reached his hand out towards her but she recoiled, backing away from him to get up herself. She brushed imaginary dirt off her shirt to keep from having to look her friends in the eye.

Conner cleared his throat to break the silence and asked, "Hey, who wants to head down to the Cybercafé and get something to eat?"

"Can't, I've got a tutoring session," Ethan said.

Conner gave him a funny look. "I thought you were supposed to be a computer nerd."

Ethan smirked back. "I am. I'm tutoring the elderly on how to use computers. You think it's something that's easy but for them it's hard." He rubbed his thumb and fingers together. "And it's easy money to talk about something I love."

"Uh, yeah, I've got something to do, too," Bailey said. She backed away from the rangers. "I'm meeting Jason and Billy and…I can't make it."

"A-are you sure?" Conner asked.

Kira looked at him. She had _never_ heard Conner be so unsure around a girl before. Not since they were eleven and he had first _really_ discovered girls. Now that she thought about it, he and Bailey had been acting weird around each other lately. Almost as if they were trying to avoid each other.

"Yeah, yeah." Bailey nodded. She tried to smile but it didn't reach her eyes. "I just…I have to go. Hoo roo." As it was, Bailey was practically sprinting from the lab while Conner shuffled his feet nervously.

Kira studied his face. He looked torn about something. Maybe he had done something to offend her? He'd done that numerous times with other girls before, it wouldn't be the first time.

"Kira? What about you?"

Startled at her name suddenly being said, Kira turned to Conner to find him looking directly at her. Something about the way he looked at her, with a sense of compassion, made her equally relax and become annoyed. Okay, so maybe she freaked out a little bit. It didn't mean there was anything wrong. It just meant she was under a lot of stress.

That was it.

The White Ranger and Mesogog and everything else was running her ragged. That was all.

"Uh, yeah, sure. After this practice session, I could use something," Kira agreed.

"Maybe I'll meet up with you guys later, and show you what a computer nerd can do," Ethan said. He rubbed his hands together gleefully. "Only a few hundred dollars away from my next expansion pack!"

Kira smiled as Conner rolled his eyes.

The three then went their separate ways with Conner and Kira getting into Conner's car and Ethan getting into his. Conner was already starting to playfully rant about Ethan by the time he pulled out of the driveway. "He's going to get all of that money and all he wants is an expansion pack to his game? Man, how lame can you get?"

"Oh, like you wouldn't buy yourself some new soccer cleats," Kira shot back.

"Shin guards maybe, those are falling apart, but not cleats," Conner corrected her. "I got most of my new gear once I got on the travel team."

"You really couldn't wait to brag about that one again, could you?" Kira asked.

Conner grinned in response.

Kira couldn't help but smile. Conner annoyed the hell out of her but he was something who sure knew how to have a good time and not let anything get in his way. It was very different from the way he had been when their adventure had started. He was so torn between soccer and being a ranger, the responsibility of both that it had made the team suffer. Now he led them into battle with as much courage as she had seen Tommy put forth. But Tommy was their mentor and he took that role seriously, making sure everyone was ready for whatever happened when the time came and making sure Conner had the skills needed to be an effective leader.

And yet, he managed to have everything roll off his back with a smile.

 _Then again, his life is perfect,_ Kira thought. _Loving parents, a brother, is a soccer champion, and can get as many girls as he wants._ Kira was unsure why that last thought suddenly made her annoyed. Conner had always been a lady's man. But now it almost pissed her off whenever she saw some girl giggling as she twirled her hair, listening to whatever drivel Conner was telling her. Maybe because she thought he deserved better?

Or maybe because it didn't seem like any guys were ever interested in her. Sure, music was her biggest love in life, but there was nothing better than knowing someone out there could really, truly care about her. Sure, Bailey, Conner, and Ethan were great friends, but it didn't fill that empty feeling inside.

"Well, what about you? What would you do with all of that money? Buy a new guitar?" Now Conner was teasing her and Kira was glad. It kept her mind off everything.

"No, I'd buy some studio time," Kira explained. She crossed her legs at the knee, picking at the fringe of the hole in her jeans. "Like, serious studio time. There's a place in LA I've been looking at that I hope could help me cut some demos."

"You already have demos don't you?" Conner asked. "Good ones."

"You think they're good?" Kira's eyebrows rose. She wouldn't call herself a music snob but Conner wasn't' difficult to figure out. He liked rock music and pretended _not_ to like pop music despite how ready and willing he was to state his admiration for the girls that sang it.

"Yeah, I think your music is great. You really seem to come alive when you're practicing or when you're performing on stage. You have a great voice. And you have the face for being up there, too." Kira smiled, touched at the complement. "I always thought so." Conner grinned at her. "And Cassidy was always so jealous."

Kira laughed.

She remembered. There had been many times where she and Cassidy were singing together and Cassidy would try to upstage her. Try was the key word as Cassidy's voice was horrible and she hammed it up too much to be taken seriously. When Kira got all the attention for it Cassidy huffed and puffed before admitting defeat and turned her attention to other ways to get the limelight. Anything that involved a camera and she was golden.

"I still can't believe you dated her," Kira said.

"Bay said the same thing." Kira noticed him suddenly stiffen. He cleared his throat and pointedly looked out the window. Anything so that he didn't have to talk about what he was obviously trying to avoid. "But, you want to get some studio time? That's cool. I'm sure as soon as you got out to LA people would be running to work with you."

Feeling her resolve break down even further, Kira said, "Yeah, but you know my parents keep saying it's not what's going to keep me afloat. It's not a good career. So, I'm looking at college to fall back on. Music production of course. Maybe head out to Berklee."

"Would your mom and dad really let you go all the way to the East Coast?"

There was something about the way Conner asked that question that tipped Kira off. It wasn't even something like an inflection of his words, he said it so straight. No, it was something else. Thankfully, they pulled up at the Cybercafé just then and practically fell out of the car to get out. All she had to do was walk inside and bring up another conversation topic. Maybe something about Mesogog. Or their project? They hadn't gotten their grades back yet but she thought they had done a good job.

She just had to get inside.

A few more steps.

"Is your dad still a jerk?"

Conner's question made Kira stop in her tracks.

Her mind raced. How could he have known? When was the last time he had been at her house, been around her parents? It had to have been a _long_ time ago. And she was sure they hadn't been in the same room alone. Conner had bene pestering her for days to come to her house, whining about how he was never invited and it wasn't fair since Cassidy went over all the time. Kira couldn't tell him it was because Kira and Cassidy never stayed at the house when she went to visit other than when they were going to sleep; because they were always going out and doing stuff. Conner, on the other hand, liked to play soccer in the front yard and video games in the basement, or board games, anything he could win. He never wanted to leave.

And if they couldn't leave, Kira had to work extra hard to make sure that her father didn't get mad.

Had she messed up at some point? She had only ever left a to go to the bathroom and even then, she moved fast to make sure her father never started in on him. So how did he know?

Slowly, turning around, Kira faced Conner, her eyebrows coming together.

He looked back at her. "Kira, is everything okay?"

She started to snap at him. Calling him a jerk. Find anything that would get him to back away. Anything. But couldn't find her voice. Not even a Ptera scream could come out.

All because he knew.

Before Kira could say anything, there was a crashing sound from behind her. She whirled around to see Trent stumbling out of the café, holding his stomach. As soon as the sunlight reached his skin, he recoiled, bringing a hand up to cover his face. He didn't look good at all; white as a sheet and sweating profusely. If this was one of the flare-ups he had been talking to her about, then he needed some help fast.

"Trent?" Kira asked.

Trent looked at them and turned away just as Nightmare leapt in front of Conner and Kira.

"You again?!" Conner cried. "What do you want this time?"

"Nothing more than to make Mesogog proud," Nightmare replied. He reared back in his hind legs and stomped his front feet on the ground.

Everything turned black and Kira and Conner fell.

* * *

 _"We are now landing in Angel Grove where there's a balmy breeze and a temperature of seventy-five waiting for you. Thank you for flying South African Airways. We hope you enjoyed your flight."_

Aisha Campbell stretched her arms over her head before twisting back and forth to remove the knot forming in her back. Her bones creaked and she let out a low groan, before a sigh of relief. It had been a long flight back to California but it had been worth it. Sure, she could've teleported but that would mean leaving too many things behind at such a short notice.

She had to say goodbye and get her things together before even _thinking_ about leaving. Not to mention she had spent so much of her life back there…her friends and family had been so surprised when she announced she would be permanently moving from Angel Grove after graduation. Hers and Tanya's exchange program had run out and it was time for them to leave. But great minds thought alike and they both enjoyed where they were so much that they wanted to stay.

It had grown to be her home as much as Stone Canyon and Angel Grove had been. How many people could say they had managed to travel so much and experience so many things and learn so many cultures all because of singing up for a school program.

 _Few could say how much they gave up either,_ Aisha reminded herself. She gave up everything she knew because she felt deep in her heart it was time for her to go. Time for her to stop being a ranger and to help the Earth in different ways. At first it was hard to watch the news reports of the monster invasions going on back home and not do anything about it. But as time went on things got easier and easier until she was beaming with pride each time she turned on the news.

There were her friends, kicking butts and taking names.

Keep in contract had shown to be more difficult than she thought, mostly due to the time change and everything they were doing. But at the same time, she welcomed it. How could she be a different person if she kept herself completely tied home?

Now she was back and Angel Grove was as friendly as it had ever been. Hopefully, her friends were the same. It was a surprise and she hoped things turned out well. Or at least that they remembered who she was.

The thought alone made Aisha smile a sad smile. If there was anyone who could've forgotten it might've been Rocky. Things had bene going great with them when she left. They worked on staying in communication and had even started to date long-distance. She worried when she heard he had hurt his back and then injured it even further when trying to fend off something called a Flamite monster. He worried when she said she had been attacked a few times while working, but successfully managed to fend them off. Then one time he had flown out to visit her and they had an amazing time traveling together. Then he had gone back to Angel Grove and things slowly started to fall apart.

She didn't hate him when they ultimately broke up, but she had been lonely and soul-searched as long as she could to figure out what she truly wanted out of life and came through it with an even greater sense of self. Truth be told, she missed him and Adam a lot more than she thought she would. Equally missing Tommy, Billy, Avalon, Bailey, and Fred as well. She did miss Kat despite not knowing her so well and she couldn't miss Kim with how much they talked.

You never knew what you had until it was gone.

Aisha finally got the space to leave her chair and grabbed her bags, getting out into the aisle. She left the plane; smiling and thanking the flight attendants as she went then walked through the Angel Grove airport, her smile growing wider with each step. Everything was the same; it smelled the same, it felt the same, and despite the construction that had gone on to regroup after the last attack that had befallen the city, everyone was still as warm and inviting as ever.

Aisha left the airport and climbed into a cab, going straight to her house. Seeing her mother and father was the best. She cried more than she thought she would. Her mother whooped and hollered when she opened the door and saw her daughter, while his father grabbed onto her and hugged her tightly, crying so loud that they sounded like wails.

Renewed with energy, Aisha then told her parents she would come back later, saying she wanted to go see her friends, and went to Kat's house. After greeting her parents, she was directed to Kat's apartment, a place she kept when she was back in Angel Grove from England, and headed directly there.

Imagine Kat's surprise when she opened the door and found the former yellow ranger standing on her front porch. Imagine _Aisha's_ surprise when she saw Adam, Rocky, and Tanya with her as well. There was loud talking, excited hugs given out, and demands to know when she had come in and why she hadn't told anyone.

"Haven't y'all ever heard of a surprise?" Aisha asked. She planted her hands on her hips. "Geez, you leave for a little while…"

"It's been more than a little while, 'Sha," Adam reminded her.

Aisha beamed, looking over everyone. "I know, and it's so good to see you all. I'll explain what I've been through later, what's been going on with you? I never thought I'd see you all together again, like this."

Rocky's smile faded for a second. He looked at the others then back at her. "You mean you didn't get the message?" He asked.

"What message?" Aisha blinked, her smile slowly fading. On one hand she wanted nothing more than to hear all of the good things she knew her friends had been up to, but on the other her curiosity struck her. It had to be serious if Rocky was opening with _that_ rather than how much they all missed each other. "Wait? What message? What's going on?" Aisha asked.

She felt that familiar sense of purpose as her friends explained everything Tommy had told them.

She could leave Angel Grove but she couldn't leave being a ranger.

* * *

 **A/N:** I meant to have this updated last Friday but then went to see _Logan._ I don't regret that decision, it was a great movie. But to make it up to you guys, I'm updating this today and Friday. Don't forget to read _Ready When You Are,_ the story that becomes before this one in series, that encompasses Turbo. I hope you enjoy that one as well. I pushed back my idea with Divatox etc. to the next chapter because of this part begging to be written. ;)

Thanks to **Adela, SpecialK92, dguice, lizziestrong, brankel1, Ashley and TerraHart** for reviewing.

Please remember to review; if you have anything to comment about, anything to mention, or anything to say, I would love to hear it and it motivates me to write more. I respond to every review I get even if it's anonymous.

I'm available to reach by PM here, on my twitter account AvalonAvenue and my tumblr AvalonBayBlog.

 **~Av**


	30. Chapter 30: Orange You Glad (1)

**Chapter 30**

 _Orange You Glad (1)_

* * *

"What do you think of this?"

Avalon turned and examined the shirt Kimberly was holding up. Her eyebrows rose. "I think I'm stunned that it's not pink," she remarked. Then she tilted her head. "I'm not so surprised its _white_ but…" Kimberly swung the blouse at Avalon, who laughed, reaching out her arm to block the attack. Kimberly replaced the blouse onto the clothing rack and crossed her arms. "I mean, I understand you being mad at Tommy but it's ridiculous how you two still seem to think alike."

Kimberly rolled her eyes. "And I'm sure you all were thinking that we're going to get back together, right?"

"I didn't say that."

Trini grinned and reached out, putting her arm around Kimberly's shoulders. "She's already been badgered by Zack about it as much as she could be. Something about the way the two looked at each other when they saw each other again."

Shrugging off her arm, Kimberly turned and started to walk backwards, looking at her friends in mock-anger. "Zack is just nosy and wants to know about everyone's love life."

"Excuse me, Pinkerbell, but I seem to remember you demanding everyone's romantic status at dinner," Avalon pointed out. She paused by a store window to admire a leather jacket. Reaching her hand, she placed it on the glass. "Huh. Hard to believe that's all I used to wear."

"Hard to believe you used to wear that when you were in _California,"_ Trini corrected her. "It had to have been about eighty degrees every day."

"I never said I always made the best decisions," Avalon remarked.

"I'll say," Kimberly agreed.

Avalon glared at her reflection.

But there wasn't more to say.

Kimberly was right. It was so funny to see how much her life had changed since she first arrived in Angel Grove. She was a completely different person now. Just like Tommy and Kim were completely different people. She would've bet a million dollars that the moment they laid eyes on each other, they would've resumed their whirlwind of a high school romance. Now, though, they truly did act like close friends. There wasn't anyone else she knew that could talk some sense into Tommy the way Kim did. He even held himself a little differently as they continued to figure out what was their next best course of action; take down the White Dino Thunder Ranger or travel back to Angel Grove to see what General Norquist and NASADA had to say about getting to Eltar.

 _Still, not everything changes, _Avalon reminded herself. She still managed to fall back into her old ways when certain topics came up. Just like she still hadn't told the others about Chase being out of jail and in Reefside. She hadn't seen him since then, but she would put money on him showing up when he needed to. He always had that talent. Just as much as he had the talent of making Avalon shake with fear from what he was capable of and the memories of the pain he had inflicted up on her.

A small part of the pain she had felt over numerous areas of her life.

"I'm just saying that some of your fashion choices were ridiculous," Kimberly teased, making Avalon smile. "I can let you off the hook for some of it considering you were on your own for a while. But you really could've used my help."

"Just as much help as I gave you in battle?" Avalon shot back.

"Okay, okay." Trini held her hands out, effectively cutting off the playful bickering of the two friends. "I think if we're going to get any other kind of bloodshed, it'll be _after_ we do some more shopping. We've been here for an hour and, surprisingly, Kim doesn't have _any_ shopping bags."

Kimberly gasped once more. Her eyes darted around the stores around them. "You're right. Oh! And there's a sale on skirts!" She started to power-walk to one side of the mall with Trini and Avalon following along behind her.

For the next hour, Kimberly moved from store to store in a whirlwind, gathering an arm load of bags as she went. Avalon was surprised to see that Kim was able to keep up with her marathon shopping that made her infamous among the shops back in Angel Grove, but was glad she still loved fashion so much. It was like things hadn't changed…something she really needed since Mr. and Mrs. Oliver passed.

A pinching feeling came to Avalon's eyes and she was surprised to find them start to well up with tears. She hadn't even cried at their funeral despite how unfair she felt it was. Unfair that two of the most loving people she had known were rudely taken away from them. Unfair how she lost more important people in her life. Unfair how more of her friends were starting to feel the pain she had felt but on a more permanent basis. Unfair how she wouldn't ever allow herself to feel that way again because she became so used to it, it made her numb.

"Ugh, I hate how good these things are," Kimberly said. Her mouth was full from the churro she had taken a bite of from a food court stall, sugar stuck to her lips. "I need to stick to my diet but they're so addictive." Trini glanced at Kimberly and their perky friend said, "I'm not on a _diet-_ diet, I just eat healthy. And besides, it's hard to have a lot of energy to chase those little kids around if I'm weighed down by this stuff."

"Sounds like you're having a good time being a coach," Trini remarked.

"Yeah, I love it. They're so cute and have so much fun with what they do." Kimberly nodded at Trini. "What about you? How are things going at your gym?"

"Honestly, a lot better than it has been," Trini explained. "Jase and I teach classes and work as personal trainers to whomever comes by." She gently picked through the salad she bought from Subway. "It was a little rough starting out, but now things are working really well."

"That's great!" Kimberly said. "That's all you two talked about when you were asked what you wanted to do when we were kids."

"Well, if there's anything that Jason can do, it's doing whatever he puts his mind to," Trini said fondly. She rested her chin in her hands. "Sometimes, I thought working with him was going to be a disaster, but it's been great."

Avalon's eyebrows came together as she made a funny face. "Why? What would've been so bad?" She held up her hand. "I mean, _I_ have plenty to say about Rudolph, but that's just me." Trini balled up her napkin and tossed it at Avalon, who laughed and batted the ball away before it could hit her. "I'm kidding, Sunny."

"Nothing." Trini shrugged. "Just that people usually say not to work with people you're close to."

Kimberly's eyes narrowed. "How close?"

Trini smiled at her friend. "Kim," she warned.

"Okay. Okay." Kimberly held up her hands then turned her attention to Avalon. "So? What about you? What have you been up to?"

"Acting like a mum to a bunch of teens that don't seem to completely understand the responsibility they have," Avalon remarked. She casually took a sip of her soda. "And helping out Tommy and Hayley in the lab whenever they need it."

"Other than that."

Hesitating for a moment, Avalon said, "I write. I've got a book deal I'm working on, actually. Other than that, I work as a fitness instructor down at the gym."

"A writer, huh?" Kimberly eyebrows rose. "What do you write about?"

"My agent wants me to write about my life with the Vipers, but I haven't made so much progress on it lately," Avalon admitted. She shrugged. "It's been so long since I got out but I still really can't talk about it. I know at some point I'll have to tell Conner, Ethan, and Kira because _something_ about my background is going to tip them off."

"What is it that's making it hard for you to talk about?" Kimberly asked gently. "I remember when the new members would come in you were hesitant about it. I thought talking about it may have helped."

Avalon stayed silent. There wasn't a big story about it. There were things that she had done as part of the Vipers that she hadn't even told her own ranger team yet. If she couldn't admit them to herself how could she say it to anyone else who came into her life? Truth be told as happy as Avalon was, there as a part of her that was always working to move on from her past and become a better person. There were a lot of things she had managed to fix; her temper wasn't as bad as it used to be, she had some great friends that she allowed into her life with little pushback, and she didn't keep as many secrets as she had before.

"I reckon it's just a lot of things I try not to think about," Avalon said. The corner of her lips turned up. "Especially with how much Bay is growing up. She doesn't really need me much anymore and now has another team she's working with." She then noticed the sudden shift in Kimberly's demeanor and said. "What's up? You're still mad at Tommy?"

"It's not that we're mad more than we're disappointed," Trini broke in. Kimberly nodded and motioned towards the young Asian woman. "If we had known there was a chance to become rangers again, maybe we would've been ready to face what's going on now." She shook her head. "Not like we could've imagined what Rita and Zedd coming back…"

"Yeah, I thought they were purified," Kimberly said.

"They were," Avalon started. She reached up and rubbed her temples. "It's a long story, mate. Mesogog's way of creating monsters is to splice a bunch of things together. Maybe they were never completely purified, maybe Zordon's energy wave just made it so that the evil inside them was made dormant."

"You don't seem so surprised that we may be able to morph again," Trini remarked as the three left the store and headed to the mall's food court.

Avalon shrugged. "Once Tommy showed me and Bay the lab he had under the house, it was only a matter of time until something started up again. Then he morphed into the black ranger, then Bay morphed again…I started to think maybe there was a way the rest of us could. Our communicators still work and as far as I'm concerned we're still attached to the morphing grid. If it's maintained by the balance between the forces good and evil then I'm not sure it'll ever be completely severed, yeah?" She placed her hands on her hips. "As for Tommy not saying anything…I'm not surprised. He's been on his own for a while so he's never needed to run things by anyone else. Now that Conner, Kira, and Ethan are around, Conner's the leader there and Tommy and I just do our best to mentor them. Whereas they don't really need us there unless it's a difficult monster.

"And, if I know Tommy as well as I think I do, the bloke is probably still traumatized by what happened with our zords before we went to fight Ivan."

Kimberly shook her head. "But that wasn't his fault. Our zords were destroyed in battle by Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina."

"But he was the one who made the order for us to keep fighting. Honestly, I don't envy him or Jason from their roles of being leaders for our teams. They had to make hard decisions they don't know will work out or will put us in danger."

Kimberly gasped, brown eyes widening. She brought her hands up to cover her mouth then lowered them once more. "That's what he was saying when I confronted him about it. He was talking about how badly he would feel if he made them all go running into a battle that may kill them."

"But he's not the leader of their team," Trini said. She then paused, mulling over her words. "Still, they're as young as we were when we started. If things had gone differently when we started, if there was an older ranger that had gone through it before, they'd probably be just as horrified to send us out whenever we needed to."

"Exactly. It must be getting to him." Avalon shifter he jaw to the side. "I'm not saying it wasn't a dick move to continue to keep things quiet and work them out on his own, but he didn't have many people to talk to and he didn't want to pull us out of our own lives for something he wasn't sure would even work." She waved her hands. "Now that we know, we need to focus on what we're going to do next. Jason can morph and that'll help for a while, but we don't know how long it'll last before the rest of us will need to, too."

* * *

Mesogog clenched his hands, curling his claws into his palms. The sharpness of his talons ripped the skin of his palms, making a pale liquid to drip onto the floor. Elsa and Zeltrax knelt down in front of him as he started to pace back and forth.

"Now that the White Ranger is around, he's ruining all of my for the rangers, destroying my monsters," Mesogog hissed. "I want him dealt with!" He turned to face Zeltrax and Elsa, who continued to look away from him. "I want him in my clutches. If I can't have him take down the rangers without him destroying my monsters then I'll have to destroy him myself."

"My lord," Zeltrax said. He slowly lifted his head. "How are we supposed to stop him if we can't find him?" He took a step back when Mesogog whipped towards him. Mesogog then sent out a beam of yellow energy from his eyes and struck Zeltrax.

Zeltrax moaned and fell to his knees. He brought up his sword and placed the tip into the ground of the lair, using it as a way to keep himself up. But Mesogog's energy blast proved to be too powerful. It became much worse when he used his Psionic Brain-Blast that made Zeltrax release his grip on the hilt of his sword and fall to his knees.

"Ugh, Master…" he wheezed. "How…how can you do this?"

"You are completely useless," Mesogog hissed. "I should end your miserable existence right now." Mesogog stopped his brain-blast and took a step back. Zeltrax lay crumple don the floor, one hand on his head, the other stretched out in front of him. Low moans escaped his throat as he tried to regain his composure. Mesogog walked closer to him, stepping his scaly, lizard-like foot onto the side of Zeltrax face, steadily increasing pressure.

Zeltrax groaned and reached up, feebly trying to push Mesogog's foot away. But Mesogog continued to increase pressure on Zeltrax, a cracking sound starting to emanate from his helmet.

"I should've killed you when I had the chance, instead of bringing you to me. Knowing there was something you could do to be useful against the rangers. It was fortunate that I found you to be an ace in the hole I could use later once I found your relation to Dr. Tommy Oliver. However, finding your superior brain was more than I could've ever hoped for. If only I could make it so that William Cranston and Zeltrax were to completely be one and the same. It'd be easier for me to keep my hold on you, to keep your sensibilities at bay. But then I wouldn't be able to use your incredible mind to my willing…"

"Master," Elsa said from where she continued to kneel on the floor. "He used to be a ranger, your powers may not be strong enough to—"She immediately fell silent when Mesogog reached out and struck her across the face. Elsa fell to her side and looked up at Mesogog, trembling. "Master, I'm only saying you may need to use more of your power to fight the forces of good."

"Don't tell me what to do," Mesogog snarled. "I don't need you to tell me how to do my own plans." He turned away and paced back and forth across the room. "Rita, Zedd, and their lackeys are back in Angel Grove, ready and waiting for their orders. Divatox is in space waiting for hers, and King Mondo is waiting in Stone Canyon. Nightmare has taken the red and yellow rangers into his clutches and all we have to do is get the blue and purple. Then everything can start." Mesogog clenched his hand. "If only the white ranger would die."

"Fortunately, Lord Mesogog, I am not useless." Elsa scrambled to her feet and raced to a machine sitting on a nearby bench. She waved her fingers in the air above it, motioning to the screen that blipped like a submarine's scope. "This tracking device will be able to track the White Dino Gem's energy and lead us exactly to where he is."

Mesogog took in a deep breath through his nose. His yellow eyes shifted and he took a step back, releasing the pressure from Zeltrax's head. He reached down and grabbed onto Zeltrax's shoulder, hauling him to his feet. He got into his face. "I'll deal with you later. Make yourself useful and help her."

Zeltrax went over to Elsa and stood quietly beside her. "We'll go down to where nightmare is; it's bound to bring in the other rangers. And where they are, the white ranger is bound to show up."

Zeltrax nodded quietly.

The two used an invisiportal and dropped down at the cybercafé, just as Ethan and Bailey raced towards Nightmare already suited and ready to go. Trent stood a few feet away, grabbing onto the wall of the cybercafé, too weak to run so he watched quietly.

"Look, it's getting a reading," Elsa said as soon as they landed. The tracking machine in her hands beeped wildly. "The White Ranger is around here somewhere."

"The question is, where," Zeltrax said.

"Give us back our friends!" Ethan called.

"Or you'll know what it's like to get a beat down," Bailey added.

Elsa reached out and thrust her arm forward. Her sword blasted with a bolt of lightning that caught Bailey and Ethan by surprise. They cried out as electricity shot through their body. The distraction was enough for Nightmare to rear back once more and slam its hooves to the ground. A dark circle opened up beneath their feet and they fell out of sight, their screams following them as they went. As the circle started to dissipate there was a strong pull of wind, threatening to take Zeltrax and Elsa in with them. The two slammed their swords into the cement to ground themselves, but Trent wasn't so lucky. With a cry, he was pulled into the vortex and fell after Ethan and Bailey.

Nightmare then used an invisiportal to go back to Mesogog's lair.

Elsa screamed with fury. "The tracking's gone! The White Ranger was here but now he's gone!"

"We'll just have to go find him," Mesogog declared. "Mesogog's not going to want us to come back without him." He let out a low growl when Tommy appeared in front of him, this time with Jason beside him. "We're not in need of you this time, Dr. Oliver. Get out of here."

"Not until you bring our friends back," Tommy said.

"We have nothing to do with that," Elsa said. "We're in the business of looking for a certain white ranger. Like you, we find him to be a bit of a nuisance and want to get rid of him. So stay out of the way or else."

"Funny, that's the same thing we were going to say to you," Jason said.

Tommy and Jason pulled out their morphers. "It's morphin' time!" Jason called. "Tyrannosaurus!"

"Dino Thunder, Power up! Ha!" Tommy called. "Bracchio."

Morphed, Tommy and Jason raced forward to attack Zeltrax and Elsa.

* * *

"So, where do you want to go next?"

Avalon and Trini exchanged glances before turning it to Kimberly. She sat on the edge of the mall's fountain, humming to herself as she gently tapped her feet against the ground. Avalon shook her head, unable to keep a smile from her face. If there was one thing she could say about Kim, it was that she had an endless supply of energy that no one else could match.

"I find it funny that you have no problem walking back and forth through the mall over and over but hated having to walk everywhere on Phaedos," Avalon remarked. She chuckled to herself, specifically remembering Kim's complaint and her response of, 'you have feet, use them!'

"Malls are more fun than walking through the dessert," Kimberly said. "Especially in the dessert on a distant planet where freakish birds and dinosaur skeletons kept attacking us."

"She has a point," Trini agreed. "Well, speaking of walking, why don't we go into the salon and get a pedicure. I haven't gotten one in a while and I could definitely use it."

"Pass," Avalon said. "I hate feet and I especially hate when people touch mine." She lifted her arm full of shopping bags. "I'll stick with these."

"Oh, come with us. You can just sit and finish your book," Kimberly pleaded.

Avalon started to say something else, stopping only when their communicators went off with the familiar mighty morphin' beeps. The three looked at each other before getting up and hurried to an empty corridor to answer the call.

"What's going on, Hayley?" Avalon asked.

"Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Bailey have all been taken down by the Nightmare monster. But now Zeltrax and Elsa are fighting off Tommy and Jason, and they're not doing so well. You three are the closest to help; you need to get there as soon as possible."

"What happened to the others?" Avalon demanded. She felt a familiar fire blaze through her stomach as her eyes narrowed into a glare. Her hands shook with fury. Even though Bailey proved she could handle herself on more than one occasion, Avalon was her big sister and wasn't going to let anything happen to her no matter what.

"The Nightmare monster seems to have placed them in another dimension; I'm having trouble tracking their power sources down."

"Been there, done that," Kimberly said.

"We're on our way, Hayley. Tell the guys to hang on," Trini said.

The three teleported to where Tommy and Jason continued to fight against Zeltrax and Elsa. Tommy leapt high and struck Elsa in the chest, making her stumble back and fall to the ground. She got back to her feet and let out a cry of attack, only to be hit by Avalon, who gave her a strong kick on the back of the head. She whipped around and held up her sword.

"And to think I thought Tommy was working past his prime," she said. Elsa scanned Avalon up and down. "You should've been the one Mesogog took for his bidding. It would've been easier to get to you."

Avalon gritted her teeth and charged forward to attack Elsa with the two quickly becoming entangled in a scuffle with Tommy joining in when Elsa became clear for his own attacks on her. Jason, Kimberly, and Trini took on Zeltrax. Somehow, despite any of them having faced him before, it was like he knew what they were going to do before they did it. If Jason was going to use a strong set of combination punches, Zeltrax would quickly knock him off balance with a swipe of his sword towards his chest, making him back out of the way, and then was kicked hard in the chest.

Kimberly tried a series of high-kicks to make Zeltrax back off, and then started a series of cartwheels and flips to advance herself towards him. On her last flip she was grabbed by the feet as they came down towards her head, and flung aside. Kimberly flew through the air and fell to the ground, rolling onto her side as she did so.

Trini took Kimberly's place, but this time took on a more defensive stance so that Zeltrax would tire himself out. Using the side of her hand, she deflected his sword strikes before being kicked in the center of the chest. She fell back against the ground, where Kimberly struggled to get up.

"Uh, I took being a ranger for granted," Kimberly grunted. "I never understood how much this would hurt."

"You're telling me," Trini agreed.

"Had enough?" Zeltrax asked.

"Not yet," Jason declared. "Power Sword!" He summoned his weapon and swung it around.

"Impressive," Zeltrax said. "Not try mine to for size."

But instead of attacking the red ranger, Zeltrax turned and struck a bolt of lightning out from his sword towards Kimberly and Trini. The blast struck the ground in front of them, sending them flying back into metal trash cans, falling to the ground.

"Kim!" Tommy called.

"Trini!" Jason cried.

"My time here is done," Zeltrax said.

"No!" Elsa cried. "What about the plan?"

"The White Ranger isn't here, we're not needed." Zeltrax then fell to his knees, crying out in pain. He brought his hands up to the sides of his head. "No. _No!_ Please." He let out a long cry of pain and an invisiportal opened, taking him back to Mesogog's lab.

Elsa snarled and rolled out of the way of Tommy's air strike attack. "Bracchio Staff! Wave Strike!" A strong wave of water rushed from the top of his staff and struck Elsa in the stomach, sending her flying back against the wall of the cybercafé. When the water pressure dissipated she was back in Tommy's face, slashing her sword in front of her. Tommy held his hand up sideways, pressing his Bracchio staff against her sword before viciously pushing hr backwards. She started to run after Tommy but Avalon grabbed her arm, ducking out of the way of a swinging punch and struck her hard in the stomach.

"Go check on them, I got this," Avalon said to Tommy.

Tommy hesitated for a moment before running over to Kimberly, Trini, and Jason. Jason carefully held Trini in his arms, warning her to stay down while Kimberly struggled to get back to her feet. Dirt smudged her cheek and her hair fell into her face, her brown eyes flashing with determination.

"Don't even think about it, Tommy," she said, starting to get up.

"Kim, you don't want to hurt yourself even further," he said to her, pressing his hand to her shoulder. "We need to get you guys to safety."

"We're okay," Trini said. Still, she winced, tightly holding onto her arm. "You have to help Av."

"We'll get you to safety first then get back for her," Jason insisted. "Let's go."

Avalon cried out as Elsa hit her hard enough that she was flung off her feet and landed in a pile of trash and debris. Elsa flew towards her, her sword held high over-head, ready to shoot it down to spear Avalon in the chest. Avalon ducked and rolled under Elsa's legs then did a back flip when Elsa tried to rush her from behind. She landed on her feet and sent a strong punch to Elsa's face, knocking her back a few steps. Elsa hissed and stuck out her tongue, licking blood off her lips.

"Yeah, Mesogog should've used you," Elsa said. "You would've worked better than that big time brain we've got."

Avalon faltered for a second. "What do you mean?"

Elsa smirked. "Oh, I can't wait for you to figure out what's been going on." Her eyes then darkened. "If you live long enough." She surged forward and grasped Avalon around the neck, forcing her against the wall of a nearby building. Avalon coughed, bringing her hands up to her throat to try and knock Elsa away from her.

Elsa's eyes danced with a wild light, squeezing harder around Avalon's neck. Avalon scratched the back of Elsa's hands, feebly trying to break free. Finally, she could hear Tommy's and Jason's voices heading their way once more.

"Bracchio Staff! Wind Strike!"

"Power Sword!"

The two attacks struck Elsa squarely and she went flying as Avalon slid to the ground, coughing. Pushing the trash and debris off her, Avalon was suddenly blinded by an orange glow that shined out of the corner of her eye.

"Huh?" Avalon looked over at the orange glow.

She pushed the wood of a broken crate and trash aside, spotting a dino egg sitting on the ground. Reaching out, she grabbed onto it. The egg shook back and forth in her hands before breaking open in a blast of orange light. Avalon gasped as a tiny Ankylosaurus dropped into her hands.

Her vision was shielded with an orange hue where she caught sight of an orange Ankylosaurus, like the one in her hands, roaring and turning around to use its tail as a drill.

A blast of orange came from the zord then shifted her hand where an orange gem lay when it faded.

* * *

 **A/N:** Woohoo! Another update! I hope this was a good chapter for you guys. I especially like it for a lot of things; writing Av, Kim, and Trini again, getting more into Billy being Zeltrax, and Av found a Dino Gem! What did you guys think?

Thanks to **lizziestrong, Adela, brankel1, Ashley, Son of Whitebeard, and TerraHart** for reviewing.

Please remember to review; if you have anything to comment about, anything to mention, or anything to say, I would love to hear it and it motivates me to write more. I respond to every review I get even if it's anonymous.

I'm available to reach by PM here, on my twitter account AvalonAvenue and my tumblr AvalonBayBlog.

 **~Av**


	31. Chapter 31: Orange Is the New Black (2)

**Chapter 31**

 _Orange Is the New Black (2)_

* * *

"What happened?" Hayley pushed away from her computer as Tommy, Jason, Kimberly, Trini, and Avalon came flying back into the base. Zack turned away from his computer and hurried to help Kimberly and Trini get onto medical examining tables.

"Are they alright?" Zack reached out and grabbed Kimberly's arm, helping Tommy move her up onto the table.

"I'm fine." Kimberly waved them off. "How's Trini?"

Zack looked over, shaking his head. "She doesn't look too good," he remarked, as Jason carefully laid Trini onto her table. Her arms were crossed wrapped around her stomach, face pale, and a sheen of sweat on her forehead. "I've seen Trini take some hard hits before, but that was brutal."

"Yeah, Elsa can be like that," Tommy said. "Power down!" He placed his hands on his hips as Avalon went to get the First-Aid kit. "This time…she and Zeltrax weren't really trying to go after us."

"They said they're going after the white ranger," Avalon added. She came back with the First-Aid kit and placed it on the edge of Trini's examining table. "You okay, Sunny?"

"Yeah, I've felt much worse than this," Trini said. Still, she held her teeth together in a grimace. "I guess I never thought how much this hurts when you don't have your powers." She sucked in a deep breath, closing her eyes. She held her pose for a few long seconds then let out the same breath, her shoulders relaxed. She looked up at Jason and reached out, gently grasping his hand. "I'm fine," she said, though the anxious expression on his face didn't waver. "I promise."

Avalon raised an eyebrow and exchanged a glance with Zack, who looked like he was about to hit the ceiling. Despite the seriousness f he situation, his eyes lit up and a smile started to work its way to his face. Then it suddenly disappeared and he said, "Where's Billy when you need him?"

"I think I know how to patch people up, Zack," Avalon commented.

"No, I mean to figure out a way to trap the white ranger or Elsa and Zeltrax to get an idea of what it is that Mesogog is really doing," Zack said. "Because at this point I'm getting nothing."

"Well, we know that they're using these older monsters to try and take us down," Tommy said.

"Do we _really_ know that, though?" Kimberly asked. She placed her hands on the edge of the examining table and kicked her legs back and forth. She looked at her friends in a serious expression. "How do we _know_ that's what he wanted? Using them as a distraction, yes. But this guy is so much stronger than anything else we've been up against and these guys haven't even really faced _him_ yet."

"Kim's right," Hayley said. "So far we know Mesogog is who we're trying to stop and he has Zeltrax, Elsa, and a hoard of monsters he's using to crush the city and destroy the rangers. But we don't really know _what_ he's doing." She held up her finger. "Until now. I finally managed to get the energy signatures of the monsters that Mesogog resurrected and I've got them scattered around California."

"What?" Avalon tightened her grasp around Trini's wrist, which she was tying up with a bandage. "What do you mean scattered around California?"

"I mean just that," Hayley said. Her lips pursed. "Angel Grove and Stone Canyon to be exact." She thought for a moment. "And I think I got some sort of energy reading from space."

"Oh my God," Kimberly whispered.

"Rita and Zedd must be the ones in Angel Grove and King Mondo is in Stone Canyon," Tommy said.

"What makes you say that?" Jason asked.

"Considering the teams that were together when we were facing those monsters," Tommy said. He started to pace back and forth. "As for the one in space, has to be Divatox. She has to be waiting for the right time to start on the takeover of Earth."

"Like she did when she chased Lerigot here," Avalon said. A light bulb binged in her head. "I get it. They're re-creating the old scenarios that we used to fight in." Her eyes narrowed. "I'm not sure if it's a distraction or if it's his plan all together."

"If that's what they're doing then we need to find our way Eltar and fast," Trini said. "If what Tommy said is true, that it's the key to get the rest of our powers back, then it's probably the only way to once and for all destroy these things."

"If we couldn't destroy them the first time, what makes you think we can destroy them now?" Kimberly asked.

"We've got a bigger sense of fire power now," Tommy said.

"Not just with us, but with Conner, Ethan, and the others," Zack agreed.

"Well, if we're going to do that, then we have to save them first," Hayley reminded them. "The Nightmare monster put them in another dimension and I still can't get a good lock on their energy signatures. But we're getting close. Chances are, if they were able to get caught that easily with Zeltrax and Elsa as a distraction, Mesogog is going to do it again."

"And when he does we'll be ready," Avalon said.

"Wait a minute," Jason said. "Kim and Trini just got really hurt trying to go after these guys. We don't want to put everyone else in danger."

"We don't have a choice, Jay," Avalon insisted. She finished patching up Trini and then turned her attention to Kimberly, ignoring the pink ranger's continued protests that she didn't need to be fussed over. "There aren't many of us left to help them. We don't know how long this Nightmare monster is going to hold onto them or if they're ever going to get out. They're going to need some help."

"It'd be better if Tommy and Jason handled this one," Hayley added. "They'll be able to hold off Mesogog's lackeys while we figure out how to exactly pinpoint the rest of the rangers."

"And the rest of us will just sit here and watch?" Avalon demanded. "No! Fuck that! I'm going to help them any way I can. Because, more than anything else, we need answers."

"How are you going to do that?" Trini asked.

Avalon thought for a moment. She stepped back from Kimberly and snapped the lid to the First-Aid kit shut with a sharp snap. "With force."

Because no matter how old they got, she wasn't going to let anything happen to her listen sister or her friends.

* * *

Conner sucked in a deep breath and opened his eyes.

Nothing. There was nothing around him. No color. No sky, no ground. And yet, he was lying on something. Pushing himself up, Conner's eye adjusted and he looked around him. Still nothing. No, wait, smoke. He could see smoke slowly wafting around his feet, the area around him slowly illuminating.

Still, there was nothing around him. Almost as if the nothingness was keeping him up, making him float. He took a few steps forward and could hear his footsteps echo in the space around him.

"Hello?" He called. His voice echoed back to him, much like his footsteps did. But this time bounced around him over and over again. "Kira?! Guys?!" He continued to look around. "Okay, Conner, don't freak out dude." He could feel his heart rate increase quickly. The absence of sound or anything else around him wasn't sitting very well with him.

It was probably one of his biggest fears if he was being honest. Being alone. He was used to having people around him all the time, his extroversion helping to create friends wherever he went. But how many of them were really his friends? How many of them truly liked him? How many weren't just hanging around him because he as popular?

Kira, Ethan, and Bailey hung out with him for their own reasons, very different than everyone else. They didn't continuously mention how many soccer games he had won, how many goals he scored in a game, how many times he'd been stated as a state athlete, how his talent could get him into a good college. No; they saw the other sides of him, how he could be a leader, and how he could be insecure about being a leader, being a ranger, and what it meant for the rest of his life.

Ethan was his complete opposite and yet Ethan held his faith and his life in Conner's hands to get them through a battle. Bailey continuously told him that he was smarter than he gave himself credit for which was proven with the feedback Dr. Oliver had given him, Kira, and Trent on their project presentation. _"Conner, you did a great job. You obviously were very knowledgeable about your portion of the project, but, please refrain from referring to every mention of people and dinosaurs as 'dude'."_ Conner just smiled and shrugged; glad he had gotten a good response. And Kira, well, Kira never let him get away with any of his shit and really saw him as himself instead of the persona he put out.

It probably helped that she had known him for so long and knew him better than anyone else. Including his parents. He told her how much he disliked his parents and the way they favored his slacker brother over him, how he was constantly pushed so hard, how his focus on athletics was always so belittled. How his step-father was on his ass about everything and trying to teach him 'how to be a man' when he couldn't figure out how to be a 'man' towards his own children.

"Hello?!" Conner called again.

"Poor Conner McKnight can't seem to notice that no one's around him because no one _wants_ to be around him." Conner whipped around towards the voice. There was nothing there. His eyes shifted back and forth. "Everyone in your life can see it but you. It's no wonder your mom re-married so quickly, she didn't want to be reminded of the man that made her children, so she married someone else who was so far your opposite to make sure she was happy."

"What?" Conner asked.

"She's not happy with you. Or Eric. As a matter of fact. She thinks both of you are pathetic and just wants you to leave."

Conner looked over to find a copy of himself smirking at him. No, not an exact copy. A literal darker version of him. His hair was darker, skin was darker, clothes were darker. As a matter of fact, it looked like Eric was the one who was talking to him. If it wasn't for the fact that the copy of Conner wasn't wearing red, he was absolutely sure it was him.

"My mom…?" Conner repeated.

"She hates you, dude," Copy-Conner said. His smirked widened. He started walking up to Conner. "She hates everything you've become. Why do you think she's always taking your step-father's side? She doesn't care about you."

A part of Conner knew that wasn't true. His mother was an amazing woman who did her best with everything that came her way. When she and Conner's father got divorced there was a time in her life where she suffered from depression. But she wouldn't allow her sons to see it. She came and went with a bright smile on her face, but Conner and Eric both knew how much she cried when she thought they were both asleep. Then when she met who would be her second husband, her life and her color came back…but she seemed to ignore how hard he was on Conner, saying Conner needed that push in his life and she was sorry she didn't give it to him himself. B

Because she saw what he could do and always told him he could be everything he wanted to be.

So why couldn't that be in soccer?

Copy-Conner seemed to be gaining power on Conner's doubts for he walked up to Conner and in a flash, punched him across the face. Punching him so hard that he flew across the empty space. But the empty space he thought didn't end certainly had an ending. He found it when his back solidly hit an invisible barrier and he slid to the ground. Before Conner could get back to his feet, Copy-Conner had grabbed onto the front of his shirt and hefted him up, throwing him again.

This time Copy-Conner used his enhanced speed to race over and slam a punch into Conner's stomach, sending him to the ground. Then he was standing over him and stomped a foot onto his chest. Conner let out a mixture of a cough and a loud moan. He rolled onto his side, choking and gasping for air. Yet, Copy-Conner still stood above him.

"You were the one who made him leave."

 _"Daddy? Where are you going?"_

No.

Conner was watching it happen again .Watching the last conversation he had with his father. The last time he had ever seen him. The most painful thing he had ever experienced and never wanted to see again. He watched it all playing out in front of him again.

 _His father sat in the driver's seat of his car, hand reached out to pull the driver's side door shut. But Conner had silently crept out to the driveway before he could leave. He had stayed up, listening to his parents fight and somehow knew when it stopped that things were going to change. So he followed his father down to the driveway._

 _"I'm going away," his father said. "Just for a little while."_

 _"Are you going to come back?"_

 _"I don't know."_

 _"Don't you love mom anymore?"_

 _"…I don't know. But I love you. And I love your brother and that's never going to change. You two are the reason I keep going every day. I just can't keep going with your mom. I promise I'll call you once I get settled and then you can come over and we can do whatever you want."_

 _"Whatever I want?"_

 _"Yeah."_

 _"Can we play soccer?"_

 _"We can play soccer all day. We'll even skip sleep and stay up all night to play. Give me a hug_?" C _onner walked over and hugged his father as tightly as he could. Maybe if he held on so tight he wouldn't go away._

But he left.

And it still hurt every time Conner thought about it. When he didn't feel like getting out of bed, when he didn't find so much joy in the game, when he wanted to do nothing but lie around, he thought of what his father would do, thought of what his father would _want_ him to do…and how his father couldn't do what _Conner_ wanted him to do.

"They all leave because of you," Copy-Conner continued. "They'd be better off without you."

Conner closed his eyes. No, that wasn't true. His mother would've fallen apart without him. His brother, as much as they got on each other's nerves, would be lost without his twin. They had that sacred bond that they couldn't bear to break. The rest of the ranger team…they were a team, they couldn't be broken apart like that.

No.

No one would be better off without him, just like he wouldn't be better off alone.

He needed others just like they needed him.

And he was going to be there for them.

Copy-Conner lifted his foot and started to bring it down again. Conner blinked in surprise as the image suddenly shifted, distorted to reveal a copy of Nightmare standing above him, ready to bring his hooves down onto Conner's chest.

"No!" Using his enhanced speed, Conner launched himself back to his feet and kicked Nightmare in the chest, knocking him off balance. "You're not going to trick me. I know my worth and I'm not going to let anyone talk me down from it. Not even a creepy, monster-dude like you. Dino Thunder, Power up! Ha! Tyranno!"

The two became locked in battle. Even with Conner's enhanced speed Nightmare moved fast. Within the nightmare realm he seemed to become more powerful as well, each time he leapt aside and landed on the ground his hooves would shake the area around them, nearly knocking Conner off his feet. Conner threw himself aside and rolled back to his knees.

"Tyranno Staff!"

With weapon in hand Conner leapt high and struck Nightmare across the side with his staff. It opened up and Conner could see a swirling dark mass inside it before it slowly started to heal itself. Then he spun around and struck Conner hard in the chest with its hind legs. Conner crashed back against the ground before he was lifted into the air once more by Nightmare charging forward and ducking its head underneath Conner's body and lifted him into the air, stomping him when he crashed to the ground once more.

"Give up, ranger! In this realm, you're not going to win!" Nightmare cried.

Conner gasped in pain, grabbing his shoulder. His body ached, but he wasn't giving up that easily. "I just need more power," he said. That must've been the magic words, for he felt a sudden surge of power shoot through his body. A feral cry escaped his lips. "Super Dino Mode!"

The spikes on his suit elongated and Conner felt a loud roaring of a tyrannosaurus in his ears. He clasped his staff tightly in his hands. "Let's see how you handle this! Tyranno Hurricane Attack!" The open mouth of the tyranno staff roared and out came a blast of a strong wind. Conner didn't wait to see if it struck Nightmare, unleashing his next slew of attacks. "Tyranno Staff: Circle Moon!" He drew his Tyranno Staff in a large circle that became condensed with energy that shot into him as well.

Conner then ran forward and leapt high, bringing his Tyranno Staff high above his head. "Hiya!"

Bringing the staff down on Nightmare, Conner watched as the combination of attacks when right through Nightmare. Nightmare screamed and exploded in a swirl of energy. Breathing heavily, Conner de-morphed and watched as the room around him brightened enough to create a portal. Without hesitating, Conner ran through it.

* * *

Kira leaned against the wall behind her, trying not to scream.

A cold feeling of dread passed through her. She shivered, knowing she had made a mistake again. She had been the one that made her father angry. And she was going to be punished. No matter how many times she tried to stare him down, how many times she tried to prove her worth against him, how she tried to plead to her mother to be a mother and not let him hurt her like that.

And yet she hurt him, too. She turned her back on her daughter as if things weren't happening and later said 'stop making him so angry and things like this wouldn't happen'. And that crushed her more and more. So she branched out and turned herself to her music, her passion, what would take her away from Reefside and all of the pain she continued to feel.

It's why she dressed the way she did, like a 'freak' as other people called her, why she put on so much makeup. So that her look reflected how she felt; it made her feel powerful. Her song lyrics and the way she dressed was a way to have control over something, a way to stand out, a way to feel like herself. And it was what made her feel better.

Made her feel human.

She never felt like anything less than when her father got a hold of her.

The damage was done.

Kira's father came at her like lightning, slapping her so hard she fell to the ground. It had been a significantly hard slap to do so from her crouched position behind the barrier. He grabbed Kira's arm, pressing hard against the old bruises on her body, creating news ones. He continued to hit her and Kira used her free arm to deflect some of his blows.

"Stop!" she shouted. "STOP IT!"

But Kira's father kept going. "How dare you?!" he screamed, spittle landed on her face. "How dare you?!" He punched her. Over and over. Kira cried out, trying to move her head to avoid the worst of the blows. He grabbed her hair and kept her head up, punching her hard, her lips split, nose began to bleed. "Don't you fucking move, you bitch!" He slammed her to the wall and continued to hit her.

Then he was gone. Kira wrapped her arms around her legs, hugged them to her chest, cried. She hated him. She hated everything about him and yet…he was her father and she loved him. In a sad, sick way she still loved him. Loved the man he used to be. Loved the man she wanted him to become again. Loved the lingering amount of happiness that was her childhood before everything started to fall apart. Right when her friendships started to fall, when her father became such a hardass, when everything became her fault.

"That's right, everything is your fault."

Gasping, Kira looked up and found a dark copy of herself walking her way. Her hands were on her hips as she strolled around Kira, like a cat watching her prey. This Kira was a little different; though. Her hair was down; she wore a pair of jean overalls and a yellow crop top along with black high-tops, natural makeup on her face. Something Kira would never wear now. Something she used to wear, then.

Back when things were normal. Back when she was excited about every aspect of her life, back when she had friends and loving parents.

"And it's always going to be your fault," Copy-Kira said. "You deserve everything you're getting. Because you're a spineless wimp that keeps doing everything wrong."

Kira brought her hands up to her face to wipe away the blood. But it kept coming. Using the back of her hand, she pressed it hard against her nose. But she knew it was no use. Nothing stopped the blood flow but time.

Time healed all wounds.

But what about the invisible wounds that continued to hurt day after day.

"Why don't you do everyone a favor and go away?"

Shaking, Kira got to her feet, listening to what was being said. Why didn't she just go away? It'd make things easier. She was the problem, so she could be the solution. "Everyone would be better off," Kira murmured.

"Kira, no!" Surprised, Kira whirled around to find Conner appear behind her, coming through a portal. He flicked his hair from her face. "That's not true. No one would be better with you gone."

"You're the one who's the cause of all of your own pain," Copy-Kira said. "Your father wouldn't hurt you so badly if you would just listen to what he had to say. But you always have to be so difficult, because you're a little bitch who likes to make life difficult for everyone."

"That's not true," Conner repeated.

Kira let out a sob. "Yes, it is!" She cried. She couldn't take it anymore. "My dad wouldn't keep hitting me if it wasn't for me. I keep doing things wrong and he keeps getting mad!"

"That's never your fault. There's something wrong with your dad if he does that to you," Conner said.

Kira glared at him. "You knew," she accused him. "You knew what he was doing and didn't help me." Conner took a few steps towards her, but Kira moved back away from him. "You always knew he was a jerk but left it at that. You never tried to help me."

Shaking his head, Conner clenched his hands into fists. "I didn't know," Conner insisted. "I knew he was strict but…"

The two stopped at the familiar sound of Kira's father's vice coming out of Copy-Kira. _"What did I tell you about hanging out with that boy? What did I tell you? He's just going to use you. He's going to pump and dump you like I'm sure he's done with all of the others. A popular guy like that? Yeah, it's just a matter of time."_

Kira closed her eyes and turned her head away.

She had never told him. Never said that part of the reason they stopped being friends was because of her father. Not just because he started dating Cassidy. Not just because she felt he was spending too much time and attention on her. She would've gotten over that. Her father held too strong of a hold over her and she knew how bad it would be if she continued to defy his wishes to see Conner.

"What…?" Conner looked over at Kira.

She continued to tremble.

Copy-Kira smirked then let out a loud ptera scream. Kira and Conner both slapped their hands over their ears, falling to the ground as Copy-Kira moved closer to them, still screaming. Kira finally turned her head back and closed her eyes as she ptera-screamed back, using as much of her energy to do it. The energy waves crashed together, knocking the two Kiras back.

But this time, Kira stood her ground. She was tired of not fighting back, tired of allowing things to happen to her instead of being in control of her own life. If there was one thing she could control, it was being a ranger and how she was going to protect everyone around her, but she needed to learn how to protect herself first.

"Dino Thunder, Power up! Ha!" Kira called. "Ptera!" The minute she morphed Copy-Kira shifted into Nightmare.

"You can do it, Kira," Conner cheered her on. "Just know I'm standing behind you…like I should've been before."

Kira summoned her ptera grips and she and Nightmare immediately jumped into battle. Kira fought long and hard against the Nightmare monster. Pulling out attacks like the Ptera Flying Dagger. Conner had never seen her fight with such ferocity before, and he was sure it was because she was doing her best to knock down all of her demons.

"I won't let you hurt me anymore!" Kira cried as she went, swinging her arms as she slashed with her ptera grips. "Ptera Spin Crash!" She leapt up into the air and spun. Bringing her arms to her chest she spun faster and faster and released her grasp, swinging her arms wide. The energy filled blasts struck Nightmare and caused him to explode.

Kira landed on the ground in a crouch as she de-morphed.

Breathing heavily, she reeled herself back to sit on her heels. The voices were gone, they stopped. She was by herself now. She had to stand up for herself and she was going to do it, starting today. She sensed Conner coming up behind her.

"Don't touch me," she whispered.

"I won't," Conner said. "I just…none of what that things said was true. It's called Nightmare for a reason. They're using our worst nightmares against us. Which means…Trent is in here somewhere and maybe Ethan and Bailey and we have to help them help themselves."

Kira nodded. She stood up, using the bottom of her shirt to wipe away the rest of the blood before it dried. Conner's voice grabbed her attention once more.

"I'm sorry."

Eyebrows coming together, Kira looked up at him.

"You were right. I'm sorry that I didn't help you before." Conner's eyes were earnest and Kira could see the sincerity in them. "I knew your dad was a jerk…but I didn't know it was getting that bad. I didn't know what…it makes sense now but…" he ran his hand through his hair. "What he said."

 _He's just going to pump and dump you._

"It's okay," Kira said quickly. It wasn't time to get into that. She bit her lower lip, wincing against the sting of pain. Her lip was split even worse than she thought it was. "Just…you can't tell anyone."

Conner looked taken aback. "What?"

"You can't tell anyone what he's doing."

"But Kira—"

"Nothing's going to happen. I've tried before. It just made him angrier than he was before. The police aren't going to do anything." Kira ran a hand through her hair. "I just have to get through this last year and then I'll be gone. I'll be in LA and I'll never have to see him again."

"Kira—"

"—I can't do that to my mom. I can't do it to my dad. I just…I don't want…I can't." Kira looked away from him. She let out a long, shaky breath. Conner reached out and grasped her shoulders, Kira started to pull away but he grabbed her, hugging her. "Conner…"

"I won't tell if you don't want me to. But if you don't say something soon…"

Kira nodded.

Soon was a relative term. All she had to do was get enough money to move out and then she could be long gone before any of them noticed. She already had a bag packed, already had a plan…but knowing she finally had someone in her corner was a good feeling, too.

"You ready to go take down the rest of these guys?" Conner asked, finally stepping back.

Kira nodded. "Try and stop me."

* * *

"Fag."

"Queer."

"Homo."

"Nerd."

Ethan held up his arm, covered in scales, to deflect the crushing blow Nightmare was trying to inflict upon his body. Then Nightmare whipped around, using his long head and neck and strike Ethan on the side, knocking him off his feet. Nightmare followed up with a flying leap, he landed on the ground and it quaked under Ethan's feet. The ground shook and cracked under him, released stalactite spires that rose into the air.

Ethan dodged the first few but the ones under his feet lifted him up before suddenly disappearing beneath him. He slammed back to the ground, rolling along the ground from Nightmare's energy waves. Then he was struck in the stomach and he rolled across the ground. Finally, Nightmare gave hi some reprieve before turning into a Copy-Ethan, who snarled at him.

"You look up at Conner in awe, wondering why girls are constantly throwing themselves at him," Copy-Ethan said. "Other than him being better than you in every way, it might be because he's interested in girls. If you were too…then you could get a girlfriend." He held up his fist which grew a protective layer of skin and punched Ethan hard in the stomach with enough arch that it lifted him up off the ground and into the air.

Ethan's time in the air was long enough that Copy-Ethan leapt up high and sent another barrage of punches into him. The added strength of the protective layer of skin inflicted more damage than he would've felt had it been a normal punch. Landing on the ground once more, Ethan coughed hard, blood tingeing his spit.

"You're such a weird, nerd. No one likes a know-it-all and yet that's how you get your attention. Because you're not the big man on campus." Copy-Ethan leaned down and grabbed Ethan's neck, squeezing as hard as he could. Bringing up his hands, Ethan clawed at the one held tightly around his neck, finding it as thick as a tree-trunk. "You're not the leader of the team no matter how much you should be. You're the brains, you're the one that understands all of this, and you're the one who knows understands the idea behind strategy. _You're_ the one who should be the leader, not him! _You're_ the one who have everyone else looking up to him. And it's all Conner's fault."

Ethan closed his eyes.

"You need to take him down. Once he's gone, you'll have everything you've ever wanted. You're a schlep that can't do anything until you get rid of him."

And then it was playing in front of him. All of the battles they've had so far, where Conner led them into the fights. Many of which they nearly lost. Ethan did have ideas to keep themselves from losing but never said them all because Conner was the leader and he was the one who had the ideas and the energy to keep them going. Conner was the one who everyone flocked around. Conner was the one who laughed along with his jock friends and picked on other people in the school, all due to the status they had with the students in the school.

Then he saw Derek beating him up.

Derek picking on him.

Derek calling him a fag.

Derek making his life a living hell.

Tormenting him.

Over and over and over.

"Ethan!"

Ethan finally opened his eyes. He turned his head and found Conner and Kira standing on the other side of the abyss. They stood across from him, watching with worry on their faces. Conner's too. He was worried about him. Not trying to be better than him, not wanting for him to die, not waiting to get him out of the way.

"Don't let what he's saying take you over!" Kira called. "He's just trying to get to you. To destroy you!"

"Break through it!" Conner added. "I know you can do it."

 _I know you can do it._

 _I know you can do it._

 _I know you can do it._

Ethan turned back to Copy-Ethan and glared up at him. Copy-Ethan gave a grotesque smile in response; his teeth starting to change into horse's teeth, making his lips and mouth protrude far into Ethan's face. He started to chomp at Ethan's nose, making Ethan jerk his head back as far as he could. "Take this!"

Ethan pulled his knees up towards his chest and placed them against Copy-Ethan's stomach. He pushed hard, kicking him back away from him. Ethan swung himself up to his feet. "How's that for strategy." Copy-Ethan landed on the ground and rapidly started to transform back into Nightmare. "You're going to see what a real nerd can do. Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha! Tricera!"

Ethan leapt up high and landed a strong kick into Nightmare's face, knocking it onto its back. Nightmare whinnied loudly, kicking its feet into the air, trying to get itself back to its feet. "Tricera Shield!" Ethan held out his hand, his weapon appearing on his arm. He spun in a circle as his shield started to glow blue. "Tricera Slash!" He swung hard, the blue energy slashing across Nightmare's side.

Nightmare's back legs blew off and it shrieked in pain. Then it turned and locked its gaze on Ethan, sending a blast of energy from it eyes right into Ethan's chest, knocking him off his feet. Ethan used his Tricera shield to flip himself back to his feet.

"I'm not done yet!" Ethan charged towards Nightmare once more. He leapt high into the air, doing a flip as his shield started to glow once more. "Tricera Rolling Finish! Hiya!"

White electricity covered the blast of blue energy as Ethan brought it down around Nightmare, causing it to implode. Ethan powered down and turned back to his friends. "There's got to be a way out of this mess."

"There is," Kira agreed. "All of us together have to take Nightmare down."

"Then we've got to get to Bailey," Ethan said. "She was brought in here with me."

"Trent's in here too," Kira explained.

Ethan's eyes widened. "Trent?"

"Yeah, he got himself caught in the crossfire when we were first coming out here," Conner explained. He clenched his hands into fists. "It's a wonder what's happening to him when he can't defend himself. We've got to get to him fast."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Ethan asked.

Conner reached out and placed his hand on Ethan's shoulder. "You, dude. We work as a team or not at all."

"Right," Ethan agreed. "As a team." He reached out his hand and Conner clasped onto it.

Then a portal opened up. The three looked at each other and nodded before leaping into it.

* * *

Bailey walked quietly through the dark abyss. There was nothing around her but she felt nothing but an icy chill around her. Where was she and what was she supposed to do? What happened to her friends? _I really could use some help right about now,_ she thought. _Just an idea of where I am and what's going to happen._

A light purple gleam appeared ahead of her and she walked towards it, increasing her pace as she went. Maybe it was a way to get out. A purple glow had always helped her before. Bailey kept going until the light got bright enough that she could see…then she slowed to a stop.

 _Oh bollocks, please no,_ she thought to herself. She saw herself. And Conner. Saw herself kissing Conner on the side of the soccer field as she had before. Saw the whole scene play out again.

She could see the bright smile on her face as the kiss ended and she pulled back, beaming up at him. Saw it slowly starting to fade as Conner reached up and wiped his lips then ran a hand through his hair, turning away.

"Um," he said, and then fell silent.

Bailey watched herself look at her feet, twisting her fingers together. "I-I'm sorry, I just…" and she trialed off. Her embarrassment was palpable. She fell silent, twisting her toe into the ground. Conner still didn't say anything. "I thought you liked me," she said.

"I _do_ like you," Conner said.

"But…not the way I like you, yeah?" Bailey asked quietly. Conner looked away from her. "You're such a boof…I don't get it. You kiss and make out with all of these other girls…and I don't get the feeling you like them so much. You hardly give them a fucking second glance." It wasn't the first time she cursed, but she certainly didn't curse as much as her sister did. She could see the surprise register on Conner's face, a turnaround from Bailey's normally sweet and energetic nature.

"I know but…Bay, I care about you. You're real sweet and you're cute—"

"—you just don't like me 'that way'," Bailey said, using finger-quotes. And then she started crying and she hated herself for it. "You think I'm cute but not _that_ cute. You care about me but you don't care. It's just like everyone else, they care about me but not enough to stay."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"But you're going to, they all do." Bailey hastily wiped at her eyes. "Why does no one ever like me enough to stay?"

Conner reached out and tried to give Bailey a comforting hug but she backed away from him, walked away as she continued to cry. She had cried for a long time and hadn't allowed Tommy or Avalon to talk to her when she got home. She locked herself in her room and didn't say anything for the rest of the night, not even when Zack knocked on her door, trying to sneak her dessert.

It was so humiliating, but to watch it again…?

Then she watched herself and Avalon the day their father, Captain Mitchell, placed them on the airplane to send them off to Angel Grove to stay with a family member. Turns out the family member had moved and he didn't know. They were all alone in a city they didn't know. Then she saw her mother and father singing away their parental rights to her and her sister. Then she saw herself and Fred breaking up; the distance was going to be hard with her in Australia and him traveling the world. But he promised they would still be friends and keep in touch…and yet their communication had ended then.

Then she saw the times where her sister would leave her behind with no other explanation but to stay in the apartment an don't leave. It wasn't until much later that she knew it was because she was working with the Vipers to keep them safe and to get money and to keep themselves afloat, but she hadn't known that at the time. She constantly worried Avalon was going to leave her like all the others.

Maybe she wasn't good enough for everyone to stay?

So she worked hard in all aspects of her life; academics, outgoing personality, working as a tech advisor, athletics…everything she could think of to make sure that no one would leave her again.

"You're just forgettable." Copy-Bailey walked up to Bailey. She reached out and grabbed a chunk of Bailey's hair and started to twirl it around her finger. "You're so forgettable that people can't wait to get rid of you. They constantly leave you because they can't stand you, yeah? I reckon you're never going to find someone who loves you."

"Fred loved me," Bailey murmured.

Or, at least, she thought he did. They never said it. They never got close to say it but she was sure she felt it about him. Maybe? She had never been in love before. But the two had been incredibly close when he was still around. He was her first real friend in Angel Grove, her first boyfriend, that had to count for something.

Right?

Copy-Bailey rolled her eyes. "He's gone. Left as soon as he got the chance, boofhead." Her upper lip curled. "Not even your parents love you. Mr. and Mrs. Oliver went so far as to die to get away from you. And it's only a matter of time until Tommy and Avalon don't want you around either."

"You're wrong," Bailey whispered.

"Am I? Everyone else has already left you…you're the bratty little sister that always has to show everyone up. I'd be annoyed if I them. Ready for you to get out of their lives."

"No." Bailey shook her head. "No, Av wouldn't do that. She's been there for me—"

"—Babysat you! She's protected you this whole time because you can't protect yourself. She's getting tired. She's going to dump you the moment she gets flat out done with you. And you're too much of a fucking idiot to see It! Just like the rest of your team is going to see through you and get rid of you. They don't need you."

"Bailey!" Conner, Ethan, and Kira appeared through a portal. "Don't listen to it." Kira took a step towards her. "We need you on this team. You're the only one who knows what we're going up against."

"Conner's already shown he doesn't want you around," Copy-Bailey said.

"That's not true," Conner insisted.

He looked at Bailey but she turned away, pressing her hand against the sides of her head. How was it not true? Everyone around her has left her behind in one way or another. And it kept happening. No matter how many people she became friends with, no matter whether or not they were family she kept being left behind.

"No one wants you," Copy-Bailey hissed.

"We _need_ you," Ethan insisted. "You have to fight this. Nightmare's just trying to take you over. Trying to get into your head. It tried with all of us but we managed to work through it. You can, too."

 _"Stop!"_ Bailey clasped her hands tighter around her head an fell to her knees. Copy-Bailey knelt down with her as well. She continued to whisper slander into her ears. Bailey brought her hands down from the side of her head and clenched them into fists. Her hands shook as she squeezed tighter and tighter and tighter.

It hurt.

Her hands hurt.

Her heart hurt.

Everything hurt.

But nothing hurt more than how badly she wanted to protect herself and everyone around her. How could she do that when there was so much worry and vulnerabilities stuck to her. Bailey took in a deep breath and released it in a loud scream. She pulled her hand back and slammed it forward, punching Copy-Bailey directly in the face.

But it wasn't a regular punch.

It was a powered up punch from her Cephalosaurus power of strength.

Copy-Bailey's nose immediately crumpled, pushing back into her face as she went flying back against the ground, skidding on her back. Bailey immediately opened up her morpher. "Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha! Cephala!" She charged towards Copy-Bailey in short, quick strides. "Cephala Club!"

Her weapon appeared in hand and she thrust it straight forward into Copy-Bailey's stomach. She screeched as she fell back to the ground in a hard thud. Then she turned back into Nightmare, its eyes glowing red with fury. It turned and galloped back towards her. Bailey rolled out of the way and turned her club towards it. "Cephala Super Strike!" It glowed purple and she swung hard, giving a energy blast towards it.

Nightmare was hit by the blast head on but continued towards Bailey. "We'll see what happens when you're left on your own," Bailey cried. "Cephala Spin!" She turned her club sideways and spun it like a fan. She then held it over her head and threw it much like she would a boomerang. It spun through the air and lopped off Nightmare's head. Bailey caught it in her hand and when it flew back towards her. "Ha!"

She de-morphed and turned to her friends, breathing heavily. The hardened expression on her face slowly softened. "You guys right?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Kira said. She reached out and placed her hand on Bailey's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," Bailey said. She looked over at Conner, glad that he didn't look away this time. It would take some time…"How'd you lot get in here?"

"A portal opened for us to get out," Kira said. She looked around. "Looks like it's not happening here."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Ethan asked.

Conner shrugged. "Look for another way."

"Head's up!"

The rangers all cried out as a blast of energy came their way, knocking them over. They expected to find Nightmare but found themselves attacked by the White Ranger instead. He leapt towards them and the four quickly rolled out of the way and quickly morphed once more. But the White Ranger wasn't done with them yet. He pulled out all of the tricks to attack them, starting with his blinding seed and ending with a strike of his sword arrows.

Even with their enhanced strength of the rangers it caused them pain as they fell back against the ground. But they weren't done yet. They had just taken down Nightmare; they could take down the white ranger, too. Conner and Ethan tag-teamed the White ranger at one point while Kira and Bailey took the other side. As a group the four attacked. But he picked them off, first Bailey, then Ethan, then Conner.

"That's enough!" Kira called. She raced towards the white ranger and they became entangled in a fight once more. The White Ranger grabbed Kira's arm when she tried to back punch him then forced her to the ground. He grabbed the back of her helmet and smashed it face-first into the ground.

"You're a little out of your league, don't you think?" He asked. He smashed her head again and threw her aside. "See my point?" He drew more arrows in the air. "Fire!"

This time all of the arrows struck Kira, striking her hard enough that she flew through the air in an explosion and de-morphed. The White Ranger sighed, waking over to her. "I always hated the color yellow," he remarked. He grabbed the back of her neck. "Well Yellow Ranger, time to say goodbye." He lifted her head up then stopped, getting a good look at her face. "Huh? Kira?"

"You…know my name?" Kira repeated.

The White Ranger quickly let go of her and backed away, grasping the sides of his head. Conner, Ethan, and Bailey took that time of him being distracted to attack him with their weapons. The White Dino Ranger cried out as it stumbled back, suit erupting in blasts of energy.

Then there was a bright blast of white light and when it faded, Trent was in its place.

"Trent?" Bailey gasped.

Trent looked up at the four. His eyes widened as he looked back and forth in front of the rangers. Then he brought his hands to his face. His helmetless face. He had de-morphed, now they all knew who it was.

"You?" Kira gasped. "But you almost annihilated me."

"But I didn't," Trent said. "Once I knew it was you…I would never intentionally hurt you, Kira."

"Why should we believe you?" Ethan demanded. The four opened the front plates of their helmets. Trent's eyes bugged as he looked at the four teens. "You've tried to kill us before."

"That wasn't me," Trent said. "As soon as I became a ranger…everything in my life got better. I felt the best I ever had for years, but it also made me feel sicker when it wears off."

"So you pretend to be our friend one minute then kick our butts the net?" Conner demanded. "Not cool, dude."

"I can't help it," Trent pleaded. "This gem…it's too powerful."

"He needs our help," Kira insisted.

Bailey shook her head, took a step forward. "That's not important right now. We have to figure out how to get out of here." She looked down at Trent, torn over what to do. "We'll deal with him later."

* * *

"Anything yet?"

Hayley shook her head. Her fingers flew over the keyboard of her computer. "I've tried everything I can think of and I'm still not getting the energy signatures. If they're in another dimension, this one has as much security around it as the Pentagon."

The door to the lab opened and Billy ducked his head, going inside. Everyone turned to him as he jogged over.

"Where've you been?" Zack demanded as soon as he saw him. "We've been going through a lot since you were gone."

"I know, I'm sorry," Billy quickly apologized. He pushed up the sleeves of his shirt. "But I've got an idea of how we can figure out where these guys are. You see, if they were in another dimension they'd be easier to track down." He turned to Jason. "Much like what happened with Jason when Goldar and Rita had him trapped in the Dark Dimension."

Jason swallowed hard, hearing of the torturous place he had been kept numerous times. Especially the fight with Goldar. He couldn't morph and Goldar was stalking him like prey throughout the smoke-filled prison. He could still hear the sounds of the sword tip piercing the ground as he tried to stab Jason, looking for him through the smokey. If he had hit the mark…Jason shook his head.

That nearly paled in comparison to how he had been there to destroy the Green Candle. How he had been there to save Tommy from his powers being depleted and how he had ultimately failed that mission and failed his best friend. That dimension had been easy to reach since Rita and Zedd made it so that they could teleport in there, most likely as a way to lure them into their traps.

"But this…this is a different thing because they're not in another dimension, they're _inside_ Nightmare," Billy said. "So if you change your triangulations of the energy fields to him instead of _them_ —"

"—or instead of individually trying to capture their energies, combine them as one," Trini interrupted. "Like trying to locate the power of the morphing grid, but in this case the dino gems, you'll have a better output of power to locate."

"Exactly," Billy agreed.

"Stand back, things are about to get heavy over here," Hayley said. She turned back to her computer and started to type. Billy moved to her side and instructed her on how to focus on their energies as a whole. "And people wonder how you ended up at MIT."

"Actually, we all wonder how _Tommy_ ended up at MIT," Kimberly corrected her.

"Thanks, Kim." Tommy smirked.

"She's not wrong," Avalon quipped. She started to crack her knuckles. "You think Elsa and Zeltrax are going to show their faces again?"

"Knowing them like we know the rest of these guys…no need to ask," Tommy reminded her. "We'll know for sure."

"Got it!" Hayley's computer screen zoomed in and started to bleep rapidly. "Locating Nightmare down at the park."

"The park?" Kimberly repeated. "Why there?"

"Enough people around to focus on their energies to take into its dimension," Avalon said after a second. "It must gain strength from getting the negative energies out of them. Like when it attacked them the first time, yeah?"

"Sounds like you're right," Zack said. He turned to look at the others. "We got a plan?"

Tommy nodded, watching as Nightmare started to send blasts to occupants of the park with Tyrannodrones swarming around. "You take down the Tyrannodrones and Jase and I'll handle Nightmare."

Trini started to get up but Jason pushed her back down onto the examining table. She looked at him in protest. "You still haven't recovered from your last fight yet. You know it's not going to help if you're not up to your full strength to take these guys on. They're not like the putties."

Trini closed her mouth and nodded. She reached up and gently placed her hand on his neck, stroking his cheek with her thumb. "Stay safe, okay?" Jason nodded and she leaned in, giving him a gently kiss on the seam of his lips.

Zack started to say something but Kimberly pointed at him. "Now's not the time!" She declared.

"She's right," Tommy said. "Let's go."

Tommy, Jason, Kimberly, Zack, Billy, and Avalon teleported down to the park. Tommy moved out in front of the group to face Nightmare. "You didn't get your fill once you took those others."

"Ah, the black ranger!" Nightmare cried. "Come to re-live your nightmares?"

"We'll just see about that," Tommy said. He pulled out his morpher and nodded to Jason. "Dino Thunder, Power up! Ha! Brachio!"

"It's morphin' time! Tyrannosaurus!" Jason called.

Tommy and Jason raced towards Nightmare as Kimberly, Avalon, Zack, and Billy hurried towards the tyrannodrones and started to attack. Avalon ducked out of the way of a strong swipe towards her head and kicked a Tyrannodrone hard in the stomach. It crashed back to the ground and was quickly replaced by another one.

And another.

And another.

On and on the fight went as wave after wave of Tyrannodrones came towards them. She, Zack, Kimberly, and Billy fought as hard as they could, giving as much time for Tommy and Jason to fight off Nightmare as they could get.

"And I thought the putties were bad," Zack declared. "I'm starting to get tired of these things."

"I don't know." Kimberly jumped high in the air, doing a split to hit two Tyrannodrones in the face. "I kind of miss the putties."

"Be careful what you wish for," Billy declared.

Across the clearing, Nightmare kept Tommy and Jason from getting too close with earth quake blasts from its hooves and energy blasts from its eyes. When they got struck by the energy blasts it momentarily stunned them, leaving the other vulnerable to a strong hit by the back hooves or swipe of the head.

"This monster knows what it's doing," Jason said.

Tommy shook his head. "Yeah, Mesogog is certainly a step up from Rita and Zedd."

"I think _anyone's_ a step up from Rita and Zedd," Jason quipped.

They continued to fight until an Invisiportal opened up and Elsa landed on the ground. She cracked a whip against the ground. "You know, seeing your ugly faces are really starting to bore me," she declared. "I have a certain reconnaissance mission this time. But I think I'll have some fun first." With a snarl she shot forward and started to crack the whip towards the rangers.

It wrapped around Zack's wrist, which was up to punch a Tyrannodrone in the face. Elsa pulled hard and Zack was knocked to the ground. Elsa followed up by bringing his heel down to his stomach. Zack cried up in pain and curled into the fetal position.

Elsa then went after Kimberly next, striking the end of her whip against her face, making her shriek. Elsa then brought the whip back and wrapped it around Kimberly's neck, bringing her close to her. Elsa wrapped her arm around Kimberly's neck to hold her close to her body and looked at her face. "Hmm…I guess I can understand why so many are attracted to you."

Kimberly snarled and snapped her head back to try and Elsa in the face.

Elsa, instead, tightened the whip around Kimberly neck before lifted her foot to kick her in the lower back. Kimberly stumbled forward and crashed to the ground. "Tsk tsk. Hasn't anyone told you it isn't nice to interrupt someone when they're talking?"

She then turned her attention to Avalon and started to throw her whip. Avalon turned. She expected a line of fire to burn up her back then to hear the sound of the whip cracking. But it didn't come. Instead, she turned to find Billy crouched on the ground, arm up as the whip was wrapped around him.

"Billy!" Avalon cried.

Elsa's eyes narrowed at Billy. "What do you think you're doing?" She demanded.

Billy didn't respond.

"Very well then." Elsa lifted her chin and held out her hand. Lightning erupted from her fingertips and struck Billy in the chest, knocking him flat on his back with a grunt of pain.

"Billy!"

Elsa pulled back on her whip, dragging Billy towards her. Avalon clenched her teeth and ran after him. She leapt in front of him and grabbed onto Elsa's whip and pulled it hard towards her. Elsa hissed as she was pulled closer to Avalon.

"You've got a lot of courage for someone who doesn't have the power to back it up," Elsa spat.

"Watch me," Avalon shot back.

Elsa loosened the grip of her whip and jumped backwards. The second she landed on the ground she lashed out the whip and it cracked against the side of Avalon's face, snapping her head to the side.

Stunned silence filled the air.

Avalon took a deep breath, her head still turned away from Elsa. Then she slowly started to move it back to face her, a gash opened up on her cheek, blood starting to drip out. Elsa smiled maliciously. Then she frowned.

"What?" Elsa murmured.

Avalon turned her head back to Elsa. Elsa's eyes widened in surprise as the gash across Avalon's cheek immediately started to heal until it was like there had never been a cut there.

Her power from the Ankylosaurus.

"How'd she do that?" Tommy asked.

Elsa reached out and cracked the whip again, this time striking Avalon in the shoulder. Her shirt and skin ripped open and bled, then immediately healed. Avalon started walking directly towards Elsa, who continued to crack the whip at her face, striking her, but Avalon continued walking, healing as she went.

"Looks like you're about to see what happens when you piss off the wrong girl," Avalon snarled. "And you did that when you messed with my sister and her friends." A silver bracelet appeared on her wrist. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the orange dino gem, slapping it into the bracelet where it turned into a morpher. ""Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!" She morphed into the Orange Dino Thunder Ranger. "Ankylo Power!"

"She just morphed," Kimberly said.

"Whoa," Zack added.

Elsa's upper lip curled. "Ugh, not another one." She pulled her whip back against her hand. Disgust masked her face entirely. "No matter, I'll get you soon." She disappeared back through the invisiportal and Avalon turned her sights to Nightmare, hurrying to Tommy's and Jason's side.

"Need some help?" She asked.

"Better late than never," Jason said.

"My thoughts exactly," Tommy agreed. He held out his hand. "Brachio Staff!"

"Power Sword!" Jason summoned his weapon.

"Ankylo Axe!" Avalon summoned her weapon.

"Oh no," Nightmare cried.

The three weapons started to glow in their respective colors and they swung their weapons all at the same time, sending out a strong blast of power. The three combined attacks struck Nightmare. There was a bright flash of black lightning and Conner, Ethan, Kira, Bailey, and Trent suddenly appeared, landing on the ground.

"We're free," Kira said.

"We made it," Ethan agreed.

"Yeah!" Conner looked over at the rangers, tilting his head to the side. "But who's that?"

"Ankylo Arsenal!" Avalon cried. She pulled back her Ankylo Axe and the blades turned into a serrated blade. She held it sideways in her hand and threw it as hard as she could. The Ankylo Axe spun through the air, shedding the pointed blades of the serrated knife edge, creating tiny arrows. The arrows raced towards Nightmare and struck him, making mini bursts of energy explode on him.

Nightmare cried out and fell to the ground. "You haven't seen the last of me, rangers!" And he disappeared in an invisiportal.

"Power down!" Avalon, Tommy, and Jason all de-morphed.

"I knew it," Bailey said. She got to her feet and hurried over to her sister, giving her a tight hug. "I knew you wouldn't leave," she murmured.

"Never would, Bay," Avalon replied, hugging her back.

"When did you get your Dino Gem?" Conner asked.

"We've got time to talk about this once we get back to the lab," Tommy said. "I don't want to still be here when they decide to come back." He, Jason, and Avalon turned to help their friends up off the ground. "You okay, Kim?"

Kimberly looked at him as she was helped off the ground. "Is this going to be a running theme?"

Tommy chuckled.

Jason clapped his hand into Zack's and pulled him to his feet in a single tug. "Careful, man," Zack said, nearly stumbling into him. "We don't all have people to go back to." He laughed as Jason rolled his eyes, but smiled. If Zack was making jokes like that, he was going to be okay.

Avalon went to Billy and knelt over him. "You alright, mate?" She asked quietly. Billy, who sat quietly on the ground, his arms around his knees, nodded. He breathed heavily. Avalon smirked. "You don't really sound it."

"Just catching me breath," Billy replied. "I haven't done that in a long time. It's not easy to get back to." He rubbed his hands over his face. "I feel…abnormally tired."

"You get used to it," Avalon said.

"I thought I already was."

Avalon nodded. Billy had been one of the first ones to be a ranger then switch to being a powerless technical advisor. He didn't fight as much as he used to and when he had, he remarked how different it was now that his strength was gone. She knew it too, but her powers came and went, making it difficult to get too used to things one way or the other.

Flicking his hair from his face, Billy tilted his chin up and looked at her. "That healing power of yours is remarkable."

"And I assume that you want to some DNA samples to experiment on, yeah?" Avalon reached out her hand to Billy. He grabbed onto it and she helped him to his feet.

"The thought crossed my mind," he admitted.

"You wouldn't be you if it hadn't."

They held hands a few second longer before dropping it at the same time.

* * *

 **A/N:** I'm _so_ sorry this is _so_ late. I intended to have it up earlier today. It ended up taking longer than I thought to put out because I wanted to make sure all of their nightmares made sense for the character and then I wanted to make sure the parts with the older rangers made sense through it as well.

I really liked this one, what about you?

Thanks to **Adela, SpecialK92, Ashley, Son of Whitebeard, lizziestrong, brankel1, zombie-hunt, and TerraHart** for reviewing.

Please remember to review; if you have anything to comment about, anything to mention, or anything to say, I would love to hear it and it motivates me to write more. I respond to every review I get even if it's anonymous.

I'm available to reach by PM here, on my twitter account AvalonAvenue and my tumblr AvalonBayBlog.

 **~Av**


	32. Chapter 32: Calm, Cool, and Collected

**Chapter 32**

 _Calm, Cool, and Collected_

* * *

"How long are we going to be in this tin can?" Elgar demanded. "I thought we were done with this dump when Maligore went up into space!" He lifted his fingers and pointed to the ceiling of the spaceship. "And we all know what happened to him! He blew up!"

"So did we," Rygog reminded him.

"Yeah, but we're back here, and Maligore is gone and now we're taking orders from an overgrown lizard."

"Silence!" Divatox shouted. Elgar and Rygog both fell silent. "We know the plan and we're going to follow the plan. The United Alliance of Evil is at stake, not just what Mesogog wants to do with Earth. The minute we get the signal is the minute we can make sure that the rangers understand that we're never going to go away and that they're going to fall."

"And they want us to do that from space?"Rygog asked.

Divatox glared at him then shot him with a blast of electricity from her eyes. Combined with the metallic covering over his body, the electricity shot through him, lighting up the metal before it finally exited and shot into the ground.

"We have to wait a little bit longer and then we can exact our revenge against the rangers," Divatox said. She sucked in a deep breath and let it out harshly, curling her fingers into her palm. The latex of her glove crinkled as she did so. "Rita and Zedd are in Angel Grove and the Machine Empire is in Stone Canyon. When we start to attack from above…they won't have anything to defend themselves. And we'll finally be able to take over the Earth!"

* * *

Adam had just finished packing his bag and started on Tanya's when he heard the door to their apartment open and close. "Hey," Tanya called.

"Hey," Adam called back, his voice bringing her to their bedroom. Tanya dropped her bag to the ground and walked over to her husband. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a long kiss. Adam laughed when he pulled his head back, to break the kiss. "Long day?"

"You have no idea," Tanya replied. "It's been so stressful." She rested her forehead against Adam's shoulder. "I've been looking over my shoulder all day, expecting a cog or a Piranhatron to attack or something. Ever since Tommy got into contact with us—"

"—Yeah, I know what you mean," Adam said. He gently rubbed Tanya's back, hoping to calm her down a little. "I can hardly step out the door without waiting for the communicator to go off or something. Imagine my surprise when it went off the last time. But to know the Machine Empire is waiting for us somewhere out there?" He shook his head. "Without the Power Chamber, without our powers, I feel helpless."

Tanya leaned back, her arms still resting on his shoulders. Lifting her chin, she looked at him seriously. "They said they had a plan to get our powers back."

"We don't know if that's even possible, Tanya," Adam reminded her.

"I know." She nodded. "But I feel it." She tapped herself on the chest. "Right here. Right where I hold all of my faith and love for you." She smiled and Adam leaned in, giving her another kiss. "I just hope that our love for this city, for this Earth will make it so that we can finally make sure there's peace that can last at least a year."

Adam laughed.

"One year! That's all I'm asking." The two kissed again. Tanya brushed her hair back from her face. "What about you? How was your day?" She looked around at the clothes that were spread around their otherwise immaculate room. "Other than all of the work you've been doing."

Adam took in a deep breath. He had been working hard; making sure everything was packed so at a moment's notice they could get called to help out. So far they were told explicitly by Tommy to not move from their post before, just in case they were being watched. Adam used to live off of the high of being a ranger, but now that he had a taste of what it was like to be normal for the last few years he could feel a sense of anxiety coming in.

"It's been quiet," he said honestly. Adam already had the day off of work, but knowing there was going to be a chance to be gone even longer. "I've been packing everything I thought we could need when the time came. And then I went to work just to get the last minute things done." He raised an eyebrow, looking at Tanya. "You know what happened today? Someone else called me Adam Sloan."

Tanya pressed her lips together but found herself unable to keep from laughing hysterically. She dropped her arms away from Adam and wrapped them around her stomach, flopping back onto the bed. Adam smiled as he watched her. Finally, she managed to stop laughing long enough to catch her breath.

"It's not that funny, " Adam said to her.

"It kind of is," Tanya said. She wiped a tear off her cheek. "I mean, I know that I decided to keep going by my name as my stage name, but I go by Tanya Park for everything else." She smoothed her hair behind her ear. "I guess I didn't think of what would happen when everyone else was talking to you."

Adam waved his hand. "I'm sure it's the rest of the guys just teasing me. I don't get it that much and besides, I'm proud of you." He gave her a kiss on the forehead. "I'm proud of everything you've done in your career. Ranger and music."

Tanya chuckled when Adam flopped down on the bed next to her. He rolled onto his side and put his arm around Tanya's waist. "Do you think everything will be done after this?"

"I don't know," Tanya said honestly. "I hope so."

Adam nodded but didn't say anything else.

Hope was something they all had and continued to have since they first became rangers. But now, his hope was to have a normal life, was to be a husband, to eventually start a family, to live and not worry about everyone in his life more than he had to. How were they going to move on when they didn't know if stepping out the door was going to bring them even more danger than they had ever experienced before.

"You know what I kind of miss?" Adam finally asked.

"What?' Tanya asked.

"When we were still in high school and the only thing we really worried about was who was going to prom with who."

Tanya twisted around to face him. She rested her hand on his cheek. "Think of it like this," she said gently. "It's still like prom, but this time we know we're going with each other. I love you, Adam, and I'm not going to let anything happen to you. With all of this, I always have your back."

'I love you, too," Adam replied.

He closed his eyes as Tanya pressed a kiss to his forehead and snuggled up to him.

He wanted to take advantage of the time he had left, not knowing when it was going to end.

* * *

Aisha giggled as Rocky kissed her bare shoulder, then replaced his lips with a gentle stroking of his fingers. "You know, it's not so great for a guy to hear a girl laughing after what we did," he commented.

Aisha rolled her eyes and lifted her hand, playfully swatting his arm. Then she went back to examining the ring on her left hand, the same ring she had finally been able to put on again since being back in Angel Grove. Being in Africa was great, but it was hard being away from her fiancé as long as she had to be. Living in two countries twice a year was getting to be even harder and harder. But now that there was the threat of the Earth again, she knew she couldn't go back.

It was bittersweet, really. Being with Rocky and around her friends always made her feel so alive, but nothing was more adrenaline inducing than the power surge that protecting the city gave. But they didn't have their powers now, so what could they do to help?

"And most people can call it what it is," Aisha reminded him. She let out a long sigh and turned to face him, resting her hand on his chest. She could feel his heart beating rapidly against her palm. "I'm sorry I was gone for so long."

"Don't worry about it," Rocky said. He ran a hand over his hair. "You were going to come back at some point, I'm just sorry it was under such bad circumstances." He lifted her hand, gazing over the ring. "I wish it was for our wedding." Aisha felt his pain. They were supposed to be getting married when she got back, but they made the decision after filling her in on everything to postpone it indefinitely.

By now their parents knew they were rangers, their close friends and family did as well. Their co-workers may have started to figure it out from their stories and carefully crafted adventures. But the responsibility of it, Aisha couldn't stop to think about something that would make them so selfish at a time they had to think of others. Still, looking over at Rocky when Kat said that Tommy was going to see if they could get their powers back, hurt more than anything.

Because she knew they were on the same page and had made the same decision without much thought. She always loved that about Rocky, that he seemed to know everything she was thinking before she could say it. But she could see the sadness in his eyes as well, especially knowing in the back of their minds, that there was a chance they may not make it to their wedding day anytime soon.

"So d I," Aisha agreed. She wedged her fingers between Rocky's. "But this is just as important. I can't imagine what would happen if they started attacking right now."

"Like, _right now_ , right now?" Rocky asked. He shrugged, thinking for a second. "I've done a lot of things, but fighting naked is definitely not something that I'd thought I'd ever do." He laughed and Aisha swatted him again. "No, I know what you mean."

He didn't know everything. Aisha actually had something really important she wanted to tell him, and had been so excited to do it when she got back. But things had moved too fast, the attention had shifted to the new threat that was coming their way. _But if you hold off any longer, when would be the best time to do it?_ She reminded herself.

Aisha frowned.

That was what they didn't have a lot of and never did.

Time.

They couldn't keep putting things off and at the same token they couldn't let something completely take over their life. They had to find a balance that would make it so that they could continue to life and not let life pass them by.

And it being a ranger meant doing that then she could make some sacrifices.

* * *

"So you _really_ can't get hurt anymore?" Kimberly asked. She looked curiously at Avalon, watching as she cut her fingernails. "Like, at all?"

"Nope," Avalon said calmly. She finished clipping her fingernails then reached her fingers up to her hair. Separating a strand, between her fingers she gave a sharp tug and a piece came off her head. Then, she placed it carefully into a plastic bag and held it out to Billy, who practically swiped it from her fingers the second she held it out. "And Bay already tested it by punching me in the face."

"It was an accident!" Bailey whined. "I was trying to open the cereal box and she got in my way."

"And guess who was there to examine my healing powers?" Avalon asked sarcastically.

Trini laughed quietly. She then nodded to to the former blue ranger. "Careful, Billy. If I didn't know any better I'd as you're a bit eager to get some experiments done."

"What else is new," Bailey teased. She looked over at Avalon who lightly rolled her eyes, and then at Billy, who smiled in amusement. He picked up the aforementioned items with glove covered hands and made sure they were labeled properly amongst Tommy's and Bailey's DNA specimens.

"I don't mind you trying to figure out what it is about these gems and the added attributes of dinosaur DNA within them that determines the powers we get with it," Tommy said, eyeing the three warily. "But did you have to do it in my kitchen?"

"I'm merely stalling for time for Conner, Kira, and Ethan to arrive," Billy defended himself. He looked up at his friend. "Besides, you were the one who suggested that we talk to the three of them to get an idea of where their heads are ranger wise."

"Yes, but I didn't say I wanted you to spill our DNA all over my kitchen," Tommy said. He pushed up the sleeves to his black sweater, showcasing the tattoos that stretched from his wrists up his arms. "Which I just cleaned."

Kimberly laughed. "Oh God, where was this guy when we were dating." Tommy glared at her and Kimberly smiled sweetly in response, giving Trini a high-five as she laughed. "I mean, if there was a little bit of this guy here, I don't think my mom would've freaked out about us dating."

"I think he was a little too preoccupied with having to save you on numerous occasions, yeah?" Avalon ducked out of the way when Kimberly reached over the counter and picked up a paper towel roll, throwing it towards her head. Jason and Zack laughed and soon the kitchen was filled with the laughter of the original ranger team. The same group that hadn't been all together since Jason, Trini, and Zack had left for their own personal reasons and Aisha, Rocky, and Adam took their places. "I'm kidding Pinkerbell,"—now Kimberly rolled her eyes at the mention of her old nickname—"Not completely. But I _am_ kidding."

"Besides, I think your mum would be a little more scared of you putting your life in danger every day than who you were dating," Bailey pointed out.

"Ah, some things never change," Zack declared, spreading his arms wide, a bright smile on his face.

"Some things do," Billy commented quietly. He zipped a bag shut and picked up a q-tip, holding it towards Avalon. "Open, please."

Avalon eyed him warily, leaning away from him as he leaned closer to her. "Honestly, mate, I'd rather spit on you than have that thing shoved into my mouth." Her voice suddenly took a sharp tone.

"Considering you've done that before, I think I prefer the opposite." Billy then gently grabbed her chin and tilted her head back, using his fingers to force her mouth open. He stuck the q-tip in her mouth and rubbed it against the inside of her cheek, making her threaten to clamp her jaws around his fingers. Billy's eyes flashed with amusement when he pulled the q-tip back. "Now, was that so bad?"

"I reckon I'm starting to get flashbacks, Billy," she replied. She tapped her chin with her finger. "How many times did I sit in your garage while you poked and prodded me with needles?"

"Probably the same amount you've snarked about it, Ava."

Zack stood up and slid into the seat next to Avalon, putting his arm around her shoulders. "Kiddies, don't fight. We're trying to have a good time here and I'm seriously starting to feel the vibes drop down to an all time low." He held his hand out flat and lowered it towards the floor.

"Zack, is there anything that can get you out of a good mood?" Trini asked.

"Spiders," Jason and Kimberly chorused.

Zack made a show of shuddering. "Ugh, I _still_ can't get over the Spidertron monster. It haunts my dreams, you know."

"I'm sure you've faced worst monsters than that," Bailey pointed out.

"The Pumpkin Rapper," Kimberly joked.

"The Knasty Knighty," Billy added.

"Pudgy Pig," Trini said.

"Samurai Fan Man," Jason said.

"The Goo Fish," Billy said, rolling his eyes. "And Grumble Bee."

"Geez, and I thought the monsters _we_ faced were bad," Bailey said, her eyes widening amongst the list of names. She and Avalon exchanged a confused glance when the others started to laugh once more. "What's so funny?"

"These weren't even bad monsters. It was just that we were only getting used to our powers at the time and had to learn how to be stronger," Jason said. He shook his head, raising his eyebrows. "Can you believe going against a monster called the _Pumpkin Rapper?"_

Avalon made a face. "Sounds pitiful."

"And his rhymes were even worse," Zack said.

"It was an actual pumpkin that rapped?" Avalon asked. Her nose wrinkled. "Sounds like you lot humiliated Rita and Zedd enough to make it hard for us when we came along." She rolled her eyes, though smiled teasingly. "Thanks a lot."

"Hey, you really gave Rita and Zedd a run for their money," Trini reminded them. "They had to come up with even harder monsters for us to face when you and Bailey came along. I don't know any better complement."

"Careful, you don't want their heads to get any bigger than they already are," Tommy teased. He looked at his watch as the doorbell rang. "Just in time. I hate to cut the festivities short but as a teacher, you can never instill too much information into your students." He left the kitchen to answer the door.

Jason pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. "And this is the guy who was late to class on a daily basis?"

"And always forgot his homework," Zack said. He wiggled his fingers in the air. "Like magic. One second it was there, the minute he stepped into the room, it was gone."

Conner laughed, hearing the tail end of Zack's statement as he, Ethan, and Kira walked into the room with Tommy right behind him. He didn't look so amused at the gentle teasing, now that it turned to him compared to the other rangers. "Dr. O, you were a trouble making student?" He looked surprised as Avalon and Bailey burst out into laughter. "What? What's so funny?"

"Saying any of these guys were troublemaking students is like saying Av is the epitome of an angel, complete with wearing white and a halo," Bailey said. Avalon scowled then reached over, slapping her sister on the back. Bailey squealed and turned away.

"No, these guys were, like, goodness personified. If you ever thought about cursing around them you practically burst into flames," Avalon said. She held a hand by the side of her mouth. "These are the ones who actually set up study groups to make sure they didn't lower their grades enough to give them conniptions."

"And that explains why Dr. O is so hard on us about our grades," Conner said, with a nod.

"I mean, he has a certain level of responsibility for us," Ethan explained. "Not only for our well-being because we're rangers, but because having an education is a good plan to fall back on."

"Exactly," Tommy agreed.

"Yeah, well, if that doesn't pan out, I'm sure we could sell our stories about being rangers to the tabloids," Kira joked. "We'd make a pretty penny, and I'm sure there would be enough people that would buy it." She started to tuck her hair behind her ear, then stopped, quickly moving it back. Then, to change the subject, she got a good look at Tommy. "Whoa! Are those tattoos, Dr. O?"

That immediately got Conner's and Ethan's attention, making Tommy quickly pull down the sleeves of his shirt. "That's…another story for another time."

"No way, dude, you can't just change the subject like that," Conner said. "Come on, every tattoo has a story."

"Yeah, or some sort of a special meaning," Ethan agreed. "If not in the tattoo itself, but for the person who's wearing it." He rubbed his hands together. "Let's see…you don't' seem like the kind of person that'd masquerade to be part of a biker gang."

"Or a pool shark," Conner agreed.

"And I guess I don't either," Zack commented, glancing down at the tattoos that covered his arms.

Conner started to say something else but Kira held up a warning finger. "I'd be careful if I were you. You wouldn't to get in any more trouble than you already manage to put yourself in." Conner thought for a moment then closed his mouth. Smiling with triumph, Kira turned back to Kimberly, Avalon, Trini, and Bailey. "Okay, so, I guess we're going to be doing some girl-talk, right?"

"The living room's this way," Trini said. She placed her hands on Kira's shoulders and gently steered her out of the kitchen. "Leave the boys to the food; you don't want to get between them."

"Ha ha," Jason called back.

Trini laughed to herself and the girls gathered into the living room. Avalon curled into the armchair, rubbing her fingers over the tattoos that sat on the inside of her wrists; the 'V' that sat on her right wrist, and the lightning bolt that sat on her left. Each one representing two different parts of her life. And she knew the exact divide and could picture her life within those halves, including the life before she met the rangers and the one right after she stopped being one herself.

Kira and Bailey sat down across from the older girls, and Kira rested her hands in her lap. "I can't believe I'm sitting with the original rangers," she said. She motioned to Kimberly and Trini. "I I feel like I know you already, though all we saw was a tape that explained who you were."

"Tape?" Trini repeated.

Avalon explained, "Tommo's been keeping a video diary about the history of the power rangers since we started."

Kimberly's eyes widened, bringing her hands to her hair. "Oh my God, how could he? Didn't he know how bad our styles were back then?"

"At least you weren't twelve back then," Bailey reminded her.

"You were twelve when you became a ranger?" Kira asked.

Bailey waved her hand. "Just about."

"It's no wonder you knew so much about everything when we first started," Kira said. She shook her head, leaning back in her seat. "I mean, I know you're smart—"

"—And she won't let anyone forget it," Avalon remarked.

Bailey stuck out her tongue, making Avalon smile.

"Well, do you have any questions for us, about being a ranger?" Trini asked. "From one yellow to another. We're all here to make this transition easy for you, there aren't many people that can say they understand what you're going through. But we can."

Kira thought for a moment. "What was it like when you started? You didn't have anyone to help you?"

Trini nodded, leaning back in her seat. "We did have someone to help us. We had Alpha and Zordon."

"I've heard those names before," Kira said. Her eyes narrowed for a moment as she thought about it. "I think I heard Tommy and Bay and Av mention them but…they didn't say much of anything else."

Kimberly smiled over at Trini. She tucked her hair behind her ears and started to bring her feet up to rest on the coffee table. Avalon leaned over and swatted her feet back down. "Don't put your feet on the furniture, mate," She said. "Tommy gets really anal about cleanliness."

An incredulous look passed over Kimberly's face and she gently shook her head, a grin coming to her face. When they were dating she absolutely loved to learn new things about Tommy and what made him tick, it was good to know there were plenty more things to learn. To know that they hadn't really learned everything they needed to about each other when they were teens. That their lives outside of being a ranger had truly made them grow and grow up.

"I'm sorry, your question was about Alpha and Zordon, right?" Kimberly asked. Kira nodded. "Well, they were some of our best friends. Actually, they were the ones who made us rangers in the first place, us five I mean. Me, Jason, Trini, Zack, and Billy. We were all just normal teenagers who did our own things and hung out together when Rita was released from her Space Dumpster and threatened the Earth with her putties."

"Those gray, clay things?"

"Exactly. And they've looked worse than that. Some of them were even used to be our doppelgangers at one point, to make it look like us rangers were destroying the city and not Rita and her minions."

"But Zordon and Alpha steered us straight and let us know that being a ranger was more than saving the world," Trini said. "It was all about unlocking the power that was deep inside us, the power that those who created the Great Power were within us and that's what made us the ones who were chosen to be the power rangers."

"But what was it that chose you exactly?" Kira asked. She thought for a moment. "What about me is it that makes me a good Power Ranger?"

"We've all asked that ourselves," Bailey said. "When we first got our powers, when we didn't do so well in a fight…but they were always times that we had to pick ourselves up and keep going. And that's the beauty of being a ranger, yeah? That you have to figure out what it is in yourself, in your attributes that makes you the hero the city needs. Zordon was our mentor, the one who guided us with every problem we've had in our personal lives as well as through our ranger lives and Alpha was our little sidekick who helped me and Billy in the Command Center when we worked on the tech."

"So you all helped out in some way?" Kira asked.

Avalon hesitated a minute. "I think that's what made us rangers, that we had different things to bring to the team. Billy and Bay helped with the tech, Tommy and Jason were great leaders as well as helped us on our martial arts, Zack kept up our morale, Trini helped keep our heads clear when we were becoming overwhelmed, and I helped out with their target practice. There's always something that someone can do to add to the team, even if they don't see it." Avalon moved a level gaze to Kira. "You don't see it, do you?"

Kira shrugged, lowering her gaze.

Trini then leaned forward, looking directly at Kira. "I know this is going to be hard understand, especially since we've heard it so many times before. But the power chose you for a reason. You bonded with that Dino Gem, there's a part of you that's has the attributes for this."

"Yeah," Kimberly agreed. "Actually, you really remind me of us girls," she added, motioning to herself, Trini, and Avalon. "I mean, I haven't known you that long but from what I've seen, you have everything that's needed of being a ranger; the courage, the heart, and the wisdom."

Bailey smirked. "Cheers, guys."

"You're in an even better position, Bay," Trini reminded her. "Not only do you have the knowledge of the past ranger teams you've been on, but you've seen so many different things all in your young age that you have an endless amount of experiences you can pass onto everyone else."

"How do you mange to keep being a normal teen through all of this?" Kira asked. She brought her hands up and rested her chin in them. "I thought trying to have a music career and being on time with my massive load of homework was hard."

Kimberly snickered. "You should talk to Tanya about that. I hear her music getting some really great radio play lately."

Kira's eyes widened. "Tanya Sloan?" she asked. "You know Tanya Sloan? Wait! She was a ranger, too?" She clasped her hands together. "I'm such a huge fan of hers. I listen to her music all the time!"

"She was the third yellow ranger," Trini explained. "And she didn't think she could be a good ranger, either."

Kira's nose wrinkled.

"She had just moved to Angel Grove from her home in Africa after doing a student exchange program with Aisha, the second yellow," Avalon explained. She ran a hand through her hair. "And Billy gave up his powers so that she could be the Yellow Zeo Ranger and he stepped down to be our tech advisor. She was thrown into being a ranger literally moments after moving to the city and she had no idea what it was that made her a good fit to be a ranger." She took a deep breath. "We all had moments of thinking we weren't fit and wondered if we could do it." Her eyes shifted. "Or that with everything else going on in our lives we could handle it."

"We had to treat ranger duties like they were our jobs," Kimberly explained. "And everything else had to be the same around it so no one found out our abilities. We had to work _hard_ to keep it a secret." She then smirked over at Avalon. "At least _some_ of us did."

"Worst kept secret ever," Bailey agreed.

"In my defense the lot only found out because they had to," Avalon said. _And because you put them in the situations that made it happen._ "There wasn't any other choice to keep them safe."

Kira ran her hands over each other. "I don't have a lot of time for my music anymore. Our band hasn't had so much time to practice and I don't have a lot of time to write…" She ran a hand through her hair. "Music is my life and without that, I don't think there's anything I can do to keep from obsessing over all of this ranger stuff without it. I'm trying to be a normal teen but I don't feel like I can anymore. It's like none of that matters."

"It matters, Kira," Kimberly said gently. "All of it matters, because you're not _just_ a power ranger. You're you, you're a person, and you deserve to experience everything in life that you can. Just like the rest of us have. Tommy and I wouldn't have had the chance to really get to know each other if it wasn't that we were able to keep our lives separate."

Kira's eyes widened. "You and Dr. O were a thing?"

Avalon, Trini, and Bailey all nodded.

"We make fun of them for it all the time," Bailey added. "With love, of course, because I think we all wanted what they had." She shrugged. "It's like Kim said, for the rest of us…once we were able to separate our lives a little, it was easier. We didn't always make friends outside our group, so we were pretty isolated, but it made things easier in terms of dating, too, because we were around people that understood what we were going through."

"So, you…" Kira started.

"I dated Tommy until I left being a ranger," Kimberly said.

"I dated Billy a little while before I left," Trini said.

"I dated Billy, too," Avalon said. She paused for a second then her eyes widened, almost as if she forgot something. Then her face cleared and she shook her head. "And Jason after a while."

"Why? Is there anyone you're interested in?" Kimberly gently asked.

Bailey frowned and looked away while Kira thought for a moment. "Not exactly. I mean, not anymore. I don't know, things are strange between us right now. And being a ranger really doesn't help."

"Well don't worry about that, these things always have a way of working themselves out," Trini said. She smiled warmly at her.

Kira smiled back.

* * *

 **A/N:** Well, the rangers needed some time to themselves and to get the full ideas of the different generations of rangers coming together and it was certainly useful here. And I couldn't help but throw a little bit of Billy/Av in here. But you'll see the guys' conversation in the next chapter as this one was all about the girls.

Due to inconsistencies I had to go back and change a few things, namely taking out that Aisha was with Adam, Rocky, Kat, and Tanya when they first met up, and then changing it so that she and Rocky are engaged. I figured it wouldn't make a lot of sense for some of the rangers not being together by then.

For those of you that haven't checked it out yet, check out the Bailey series with its first story _Headstrong._ Av is still a main character in there despite the series focusing on Bailey, so there's still more for her journey. But the good thing with that being up is that now there's things I can say in this story that I wasn't able to before. There will be some spoilers for the Bailey series, though. Also, check out my new one-shot _Curiosity (Nearly) Killed The Ape_.

Thanks to **zombie-hunt, Adela, lizziestrong, Ashley, Guest, and brankel1** for reviewing.

Please remember to review; if you have anything to comment about, anything to mention, or anything to say, I would love to hear it and it motivates me to write more. I respond to every review I get even if it's anonymous.

I'm available to reach by PM here, on my twitter account AvalonAvenue and my tumblr AvalonBayBlog.

 **~Av**


	33. Chapter 33: Back to Angel Grove

**Chapter 33**

 _Back to Angel Grove_

 _Aka_

 _Back to Where It All Began_

* * *

"So…are you going to tell us about your cool ranger adventures or what?" Ethan asked. His eyes were wide as he looked at Jason, Zack, Billy, and Tommy.

Jason smiled. "We are. Don't worry, man." He held up his hand. "We're just waiting for someone."

Conner's eyebrows came together. Then he leaned forward in his seat. "I may not be so smart with school stuff but I know how to count, dude. Who else are we waiting for?" It was then that the doorbell rang and Tommy got up from his seat to answer the door. When he came back, Conner and Ethan stood up and immediately fell into a fighting stance.

Tommy rolled his eyes as if this was an everyday occurrence. It may as well have been. Conner and Ethan definitely took on the traits of being a ranger; being prepared for danger whenever the situation arose. _But they really do need to learn their instincts of when they're actually in danger._

"What is he doing here?" Conner asked, unable to hide his disgust.

Trent took a step back, lowering his gaze to the ground. He nearly flinched at Conner's hostile tone as well. Tommy reached out and placed a hand on Trent's shoulder, giving him a comforting nod, before motioning for him to sit down in, after pulling a chair over from the dining room. Then Tommy sat back in his place on the couch and clasped his hands together. "Trent is as much a part of this as you are, Conner," he said.

"But he's tried to kill us," Ethan pointed out. "So many times."

" _I_ didn't mean to," Trent insisted. He ran his hands over his face, suddenly looking very tired. There were bags under his eyes and his skin looked pale. "It was…forget it, I can't explain." He started to stand up but Zack reached out a hand.

"Sit down, man," he said. "Once you hear what we have to say, I think you'll get it."

Trent did as he was told and sat back down.

Tommy glanced at Jason and Billy before he started. "I don't think Trent was willingly trying to destroy you. If anything, it was that he couldn't control the power of the White Dino Gem and in turn it was controlling him." He nodded to Conner and Ethan. "You were able to control your powers as soon as you got them because you're…of stronger mind." He glanced at Trent to make sure his statement wasn't offensive and Trent gave a small smile, indicating it was fine.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Conner asked bluntly. "I mean, not that we didn't already know that."

Ethan frowned, nudging him on the arm. "Dude, not cool."

"I'm just saying that he's worked with Elsa and Zeltrax to try and kill us."

"I wasn't working with them," Trent defended himself. "I don't even know what it is they want. It was like…" he gestured with his hands. "Like as soon as I got the Dino Gem my consciousness went away. I was somewhere else watching myself do all of these things to you guys." He frowned. "I'm sorry, that doesn't make a lot of sense."

"It makes plenty sense, actually," Billy said. He thought for a moment, trying to find the perfect way to explain. "There's the idea that once your mind is altered by something, then overtime, it has the ability to continue taking control. Much like taking mind altering drugs and alcohol, over a period of you're your body will continue to depend on it until you've gone too far. Maybe this is the same idea, where he had used the Dino powers so much that his body is rejecting the ability to use it without it."His wolf spirit growled, indicating he was heading in the right direction.

"You're exactly right, Billy," Tommy said. He rubbed his hands together. "Since returning from our fight with Elsa while you were stuck in Nightmere's realm, I've talked tot Trent an he's okay with my disclosing this to you." He took a breath. "Trent's sick."

"I think we all noticed," Conner said. His eyebrows rose. "He tried to kill us, remember?"

"But I didn't…" Trent trailed off, shaking his head.

Tommy held up his hand. "Conner, I understand that you're upset about everything that's been going on and I'm also aware that tact isn't your strong suit, but I need you to listen to me. Trent is sick, he suffers from an auto-immune disease called lupus."

"Lupus?" Ethan repeated.

"Yes, it's where your immune system becomes hyperactive and attacks healthy tissues of your body," Billy explained. "Your joints, your skin, your kidneys, blood cells, heart, and lungs can all be affected. Not to mention that you're constantly tired, you can get fevers, suffer from hair loss, sensitivity to light, and nausea."

"Trent has been suffering from it for a couple of years now," Tommy said. "All of the teachers were made aware of it once Trent was starting to come into the school. Anton made sure we knew not to give him special treatment unless it's absolutely necessary that he could not be in school."

"Our theory is that once he found the Dino Gem, it made him stronger, because it was so strong, and his immune system as well as his body was weakened, it managed to alter his mind as well," Zack said. "Thus, creating the evil white ranger."

"Does that mean every time he morphs he'll want to go on a rampage?" Ethan asked. He couldn't stop the smile that wormed its way onto his face. "'Cause, that actually sounds pretty cool." Jason looked at him with a raised eyebrow and Ethan sat up, holding up his hands. "I mean, in a comic book-video game sort of way. Not in a totally real, we're trying to save the world, way."

"Trust me, man, it's not cool," Jason said. He ran a hand through his hair. "You have to think of it like this, at the moment, Trent and the White Dino Ranger are two different people. But the more he morphs, the more likely it is that the ranger side of him will completely take over. And trust me, you don't want to have to deal with an evil ranger."

"Why?" Conner's eyebrows rose.

"Because we've dealt with one before," Billy said. He nodded to Tommy. "Tommy was the evil ranger, actually."

"No way," Trent murmured at the same time that Conner and Ethan cried out. Trent's eyes narrowed and he pointed to his teacher. Tommy looked back at him. "You were an evil white ranger?"

"Green, actually," Tommy explained. He took in a deep breath. "As you can imagine, it's not my proudest moment in my history of being a power ranger." He cleared his throat. "My family and I had just moved to Angel Grove and I was competing in a martial arts tournament. Come to find that I was fighting against 'Angel Grove's finest martial artist'." He used air quotes around he words, making Jason smirk.

Jason reached out and grasped Tommy's shoulder, shaking him. "Hey, it was a pleasure fighting against you."

"You fought against each other in martial arts tournaments?" Ethan's eyes widened by the second. "Man, that's so cool."

"We're both black belts in karate and other martial arts practices so even back then it was interesting to see who I would be fighting against," Jason said.

"It was a great fight, too," Zack said. "If I remember correctly, it's the first time that Jason has ever tied in a competition."

"It was a first for me, too," Tommy agreed. "But I say the same thing now as I did then, it was one of the greatest matches I've ever had. Then I met the rest of the guys and we quickly became friends." He turned and glared at Zack who smirked and started to say something. Zack fell silent but continued to smirk, making Jason and Billy chuckle as well. "Not long after, Rita Repulsa came to me and turned me into the evil green ranger with the Dragonzord Power Coin."

"That woman with the cones coming off her head and the nasally voice?" Conner asked.

"Yes. When I came around she was a formidable foe that the rangers had been struggling with for a while," Tommy said.

Then Billy took up the explanation. "After watching us, Rita knew that Tommy was someone who was really strong and targeted him to become her evil green ranger. Just like Tommy said, she used the sixth Power Coin – the Dragon Coin—and put Tommy under a spell, making him her secret weapon against us. He destroyed our Command Center, greatly hurt Zordon, and put a virus into Alpha's computer programming. And he beat us time and time again. He was strong enough that he could take down the putties without having to use his powers. Then he got a hold of the Sword of Darkness, which kept him further under her evil spell. And she kept him attacking us, it was at that point that we found out it was our friend Tommy. But instead of getting angry about it we knew that we had to help him."

"And we tried," Jason said. "Kimberly tried talking to him. _I_ tried talking to him. But talking doesn't help to get him through an evil spell. We fought hard, finally managed to take down his zord, and destroyed the Sword of Darkness, breaking Rita's spell. Once the spell was broken, Tommy immediately felt badly for what it was that he had been doing. There was a part of his consciousness that was still Tommy and not Rita'a spell but he couldn't stop himself. Much like Trent can't stop himself when he's a ranger. Once the spell was broken Tommy joined our team and became a great ranger."

"And it wasn't just being on the team that helped me out," Tommy said. "Because at first I couldn't imagine being around them when I reminded them and myself of what I've done. But these guys…my teammates, were the best thing that's ever happened to me. They didn't hold anything against me. And I admired them; I admired Zack's sense of fun, Trini's dedication to everyone around her, Billy's intelligence, Kim's loyalty, and Jason's leadership qualities."

"You didn't get along so much at first," Billy reminded him.

"You didn't?" Conner, who had become so enraptured by the story, couldn't help but sound surprised. They were such great friends now, he could see it. Like all of them were family. To know they didn't get along…that was weird.

"No, we sort of had a rivalry with each other," Jason said. But he managed to say it with a smile. It had been so long ago that they could laugh about it. "We were both great at martial arts, we both had leadership skills…and that clashed. I was used to leading a team and Tommy was used to working on his own. So we bickered."

"Bickered?" Zack laughed. "Man, these guys were at each other's throats. To the point that Trini had to remind them what 'Gung Ho' was for a team and Zordon had to send them on a mission to recover new weapons for us. Of course they learned to work together but it was tough there for a while."

"Gung Ho?" Ethan repeated. "Is that some sort of a cool, martial arts theory?"

"Sort of," Billy said with an amused smile. "It's a Chinese proverb meaning to work together. They had to learn how to work together as a team if they were going to win the martial arts competition they were currently working towards, and for the rangers."

"It worked for a while, until I lost my powers," Tommy said. "There was a candle that Rita created that used the same magic linked to my morphing power and as the candle burned my powers got weaker and weaker until it burned out." He frowned, the memory of the pain reaching him once more. "Going from being a ranger to being a normal human is tough and it took a lot out of me. I didn't want to hang around these guys anymore. But Zordon and Alpha created a new power source from me from the White Light of Good and I became the White Power Ranger and joined my team and continued to protect Angel Grove."

"And, as they say, the rest is history," Zack concluded. "A very long history."

Tommy lifted his chin towards Trent, who had stayed silent for a majority of the story. "I can see a lot of myself in you, Trent." Then he looked over at Conner and Ethan, resting his gaze on Conner. "And I can see a lot of my friends in your guys as well. I know it's hard to understand or even believe that there's a chance of good in him, but you need to keep the faith that he's not completely out to get you. I believe Trent when he says he can't control himself and it's up to you to figure out how to make him a member of your team just like the rest of us have done before."

"Being a ranger isn't just having the powers and the gadgets," Billy explained. "it's about being the best person you can be outside of the suit."

"And as the leader, Conner, I expect you to be the one to do it," Tommy said.

Conner pressed his lips together and turned away. He hadn't asked to be the leader; he didn't even have the abilities to do it. He only just gotten his powers months before and he was still learning himself. Why couldn't Dr. O do it? He had been a ranger for years and was a ranger now; he should've been able to handle it.

The hesitation must've been evident on his face because Jason said, "As a red ranger, Conner, you are expected to be an example for the rest of the rangers. Yes, the pressure is there. But if you can handle it with dignity and grace and work _alongside_ your team rather than being a dictator, you'll make a fine red ranger."

Conner didn't respond, but nodded.

"So what does that mean for me?" Trent asked. "What if I can't stop letting it take control over me when I morph?"

"For now we'll have to leave you on the sidelines," Billy explained. "I'd like to give you an MRI or at least scan your brain waves when you do morph or at in the process of morphing to see what changes. If we can isolate the change, we can keep you from turning evil. But I do have a question, where and when did you find the Dino Gem?"

Trent thought for a moment. Then it all came back to him. "I was going to speak to my father but he wasn't in his office. I was about to leave when this portal thing opened—"

"—An invisiportal," Ethan said.

"And it brought me to this…lab where the Dino Gem as you guys call it, was encased in rock. I touched it and it came off into my hand. The next thing I knew, my lupus flare ups weren't so bad. But the more I morph and the more I change back, the worse I get when I'm not morphed."

"It may be something in his DNA, if not in his immune system entirely," Billy said. He rubbed his chin. "I can sue that as a starting point and go off from there."

"Sounds good, Billy," Tommy said.

Billy started to get up to go to the lab, but stopped when Ethan threw his hand up in the air.

"Excuse me, but aren't you going to tell us all of your cool stories of being a ranger?" He asked eagerly. "Not that this whole evil ranger thing wasn't fascinating, but you were the very first rangers! What was it like? Did you want to be a ranger when you first started? Was it hard? What were the monsters like?"

"And did you ever have a monster that you couldn't beat?" Conner asked.

"I'm kind of interested to know how you managed to keep it a secret from your parents for so long," Trent added.

Billy said back down.

Zack shook his head.

Tommy smiled.

And Jason started to tell the story.

Once Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Trent left Tommy's house a few hours later, with Trent leaving the White Dino Gem behind for Billy to look over, the others got together to speak about their findings.

"I think these guys can handle the work, but they're still not convinced they're the ones who are to do it," Trini said. She gently shook her head. "I can understand why. Things are a lot different from when we were rangers."

"Yeah, they've got a lot more pressure than we were ever under," Kimberly agreed. "Especially with college coming up and everything."

Bailey nodded. "They'll have to decide their futures just as they're deciding about being a ranger and working up to the legacy we've left behind." She rested her hands on her hips. "I reckon the only chance we'll have is to wait for a wake-up call."

"If we can even wait that long," Avalon said. She brushed her hair off her neck. "With Mesogog teaming up with the monsters and villains we've faced before, there's something bigger than we've ever faced that's up."

"Av's right," Tommy agreed. He let out a long sigh. "I can't quite figure out what it is, though. Mesogog continues to throw monsters our way and we've done that, even with Elsa and Zeltrax coming in every now and then."

"Then, of course there are the putties," Zack said dryly. "You can't miss any of those close-faces."

"But he hasn't sent out Rita, Zedd, Divatox, or any of the Machine Empire," Jason said. "Why bring them back if they're not going to be used."

"Maybe because Mesogog is using them as a distraction," Billy said. He held up his hand as all eyes turned his way. "I know Hayley's already figured that out for us; having had gotten their energy readings from Angel Grove, Stone Canyon, and space. But we have to think logically."

"Like we haven't before?" Avalon shot back.

Billy glanced at her. "I _mean_ that there must be something, a power source that we haven't found that's residing there that Mesogog is after." Then he paled. "Or NASADA."

"What do you mean, Billy?" Kimberly asked.

"I get it," Trini said. "NASADA was what was used to get the Turbo team into space, right?" Trini asked Tommy, who nodded listening quietly. "Then Mesogog probably knows that it would be our way to get back into Space, to get to Eltar to get our powers back."

Bailey frowned. "But how would they know that?"

"By seeing Jason in battle," Avalon realized. "They saw him morph a few times, yeah? They must've gotten the energy reading from him then."

"And that's why Elsa and Zeltrax want the White Dino Ranger on their side," Zack realized. "To have that new source of power and to help them take everyone else down if he could defeat Conner, Kira, and Ethan so easily."

"So what does that mean for us?" Kimberly asked.

Tommy regarded his friends. "I means we need to go back to Angel Grove. And soon."

* * *

Avalon and Bailey were packing their bags in their rooms when there was a knock on the door. "Come in," Bailey called. She turned away from her purple bag and smiled when Billy pushed open the door and came in. "Hey Billy, what's up?"

"I wanted to get a start on the readings from the Dino Gem and thought it'd be more productive if I had your help," he explained. "Especially as you know all of the equipment down there better than I do."

"No worries," Bailey said. She crossed her arms, glancing down at the silver bracelet that sat on her wrist, nestling the Purple Dino Gem inside. "Do you really think that looking into the Power of the White Dino Gem is going to help?"

Avalon listened quietly to their conversation but made no move to join it. Actually, Bailey couldn't help but notice that she barely glanced at Billy when he left the room, choosing instead to continue packing.

"I believe it has the same properties that your Ankylosaurus Power Coin had, yes," Billy said. "And if there's anyone that can help in that aspect, I know it's you." He cleared his throat and looked over at Avalon. "But would you mind waiting for me for a few minutes, I want to talk to Av."

"Sure." Bailey glanced at her sister before leaving the room, quietly closing the door behind her.

Billy watched as Avalon continued to pack her bag, waiting for her to say something, or even acknowledge he was there. But she continued to stay silent, pointedly ignoring him. Finally, Billy took a breath and said, "I couldn't help but notice since I arrived here in Reefside that you've been fairly short with me, Ava," he remarked.

Avalon snorted. "I haven't been short with you, Billy."

"So what do you call the way you just responded to me?" Billy pressed.

"Being busy, boofhead. We all have to get ready to get back to Angel Grove and there's still some stuff here that I need to do there that I haven't done yet," Avalon said. Her eyebrows came together. "In terms of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver, I mean."

Billy nodded. He understood. She, Bailey, and Tommy hadn't been back there since the funeral, they probably hadn't figured out what to do with all of their stuff or the house yet. It already had to be hard, with it only being a few months since the Olivers' passing, but to have to go back in the middle of a crisis probably made it worse.

"Apart from that, I mean," Billy said. "Though I am sorry for your loss. When I first arrived, on the outside, you appeared happy to see me. But I know you better than that, Ava, you've been angry. With me."

"I'm not angry," Avalon insisted. She finally turned to face him, her eyes narrowing when she spotted the look of disbelief on his face, eyebrows rising to show it. Avalon crossed her arms. "I've had ten years to get over being angry with you, Billy. I think it'd be a little pathetic if I still was."

"I wouldn't find it pathetic at all, considering how things were left," Billy said. He took a step towards her. "I wanted to apologize—"

"—don't start," Avalon warned.

Billy fell silent.

Avalon let out a low breath and brought her hand up to her forehead. She rubbed her temples and started to pace back and forth. She could feel that pang of pain in her chest again, the same thing she felt when she first saw him again. The pain she pushed away and decided to ignore because it wasn't' worth getting into at the time. It wasn't worth getting into now, but since he asked…being blunt was one of Avalon's worst habits.

"Fine, if you want to talk about it, let's talk about it," she said, lowering her hands. "I've been angry with you. And no matter how hard I tried to push the thought of you away over the years I couldn't do that and I couldn't figure out why. Not until I saw you again and everything that I tried to ignore came back." She took a step towards him, lowering her voice to a dangerous level. "You left me when you promised me you wouldn't." She held up her hands. "I should've expected it, yeah? It's just like everyone else in my life. Things go well for a while and then they realize I'm not good enough o be kept around and am left behind as an afterthought."

Something glinted in Billy's eyes and he let out an exasperated sigh. One that sounded like he had been holding onto for a very long time. Like he expected what she had to say. But when Billy responded, he didn't sound angry like Avalon did, he stayed as calm. "Yes, I left you," he admitted.

That made Avalon's eyes widen with surprise, taken aback by his admission.

"I left the rangers. I left Angel Grove. Yes, Ava, I left. I _had_ to leave."

"You had to?" She couldn't keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

"Yes…no." Billy shook his head. "Yes, I had to leave. But at the same time, I didn't. It was a decision I had to make, the hardest decision I've ever had to make. But it wasn't to get away from you." Avalon frowned. She hated how he knew her so well to the point she didn't need to say it out loud. "To get away from everything _."_

Billy shook his head. "My mom was gone, murdered by the very evil we were trying to defeat…I wasn't a ranger anymore. I was a technical advisor who spent most of my days working in the Power Chamber and the other part living with my Dad, trying to get him through his grief all the while not grieving for myself. After a while I started to question a lot of things about being in Angel Grove. I had no purpose of being there, I _couldn't_ be there. It hurt too much." Billy pressed his lips firmly together taking in a breath through his nose. He lowered his head. "What most people don't seem to get…what none of us even realized is that we were fighting a war. And because of that war, we cut ourselves off from the world around us. Whether it was because we had all the friends we needed or because deep down we knew it was the safest plan of action…I don't know. But we cut ourselves off. So when I found myself without powers and when I wasn't in the Power Chamber, I thought about what I had…apart from you. And even then, I still didn't have a lot."

Now Avalon shook her head. "That's not true," she said quietly.

"Isn't it?" Billy raised an eyebrow. "Without being a power ranger, what do we have? We separate ourselves from our families and friends knowing how they would be targeted and how much danger we would be put in. Outside of the Power Chamber, I didn't have you guys. You were running off in your group, hanging out, doing your ranger things and as much as you included me on them, and I can't thank you enough for that, I knew I was different and things wouldn't be the same. I had no friends to fall back on, things with me and Dad were…tense because there was a part of me that I couldn't talk to him about. Even when I gave up my duties and I was around home more often doing homework or waiting for you to get back, he knew there was a change in me but he knew if he asked he wouldn't get an actual response. It wasn't just not being a ranger but my mom's passing and then wondering about the future, too.

"When Bailey came back from being a ranger she had Fred, someone who understood what she did, but wasn't in it. And on a deep level I think that's really what made them work. And now she can spend all the time in the world with him or whomever she chooses because he's not…part of that special club. So when my acceptance letter to MIT came I took it as soon as I could, went off to the peace conference, then went to school. It gave me a chance to…be myself. To be Billy Cranston again. Not Billy Cranston the power ranger."

Avalon sucked in a shaky breath. She hated how much this conversation was affecting her more than thought it would. How it wasn't going the way she hoped it would. How she wasn't as strong as she thought she'd be and was slowly breaking down. _All of the years being parts of different teams must've done it,_ she thought sarcastically. Having to rely on so many people showed her that she dind't have to be so alone, that she didn't have to block herself off so much.

"So…why'd you stop talking to me?" She finally asked.

Billy gave her a sad smile. "I know telling you that I became really busy isn't what you want to hear but that's part of it. I figured after a while _you_ wouldn't want to talk to _me._ I wanted to call you, Ava, I really did. But I kept hearing what was going on in Angel Grove; the monster fights and the machine empire, and Divatox…I knew you were busy, I know how hard it is to balance that and a real life. And…I was scared and ashamed, especially for having left the way I did, not explaining why I needed to get away. So I busied myself with my work and my studies…and before I knew it, years had gone by, I got my doctorate at an accelerated pace—"

"—Of course," Avalon broke in.

"—I knew you would be angry if I called and probably wouldn't talk anyway. So…I used that as an excuse not to." Billy turned to her. "Used the idea of not belonging to keep myself away."

Avalon's eyebrows rose in disbelief. "You felt you didn't belong? How did you think I felt when I was there?" She placed her hand on her chest, gently squeezing her fingers into a fist. "You guys…the five _and_ six of you, you would always go on into these stories about the monsters you fought or the things that happened to you and I could only just sit there and listen. We never talked about the things _we_ , the seven of us—eight when Bailey got there—did together. I felt like no matter what I tired, I was on the outside looking in. That I was always part of the group but I was never _the group_ and I knew I never would be. That's why I was friends with Bulk and Skull and Sharkie. You didn't see me running away after that."

"What kept you from running away?"

"Bailey, mostly. I already did enough to screw up her life, I didn't want to take her away from what she grew to love as her home. And you." Avalon kept a steady gaze on Billy as he whipped his head around to look at her. "The worst thing that happened when you left wasn't that I lost a boyfriend, but I lost my best friend, too. And that hurt more than anything else."

Billy nodded. "I know how you feel."

Avalon's eyebrows twitched and she turned away as the image of Trini popped into her head. She had left to go to Vietnam ages ago when she was still dating Billy, causing him to lose his girlfriend and best friend all in one blow. What made it worse was the death of his mother not long after, at the hands of Rita and Diabolico.

And yet, while he had moved on, Avalon constantly wondered if things had turned out differently; if Trini hadn't gone to Vietnam and she stayed with Billy, what would've happened with the two of them?

Their communicators suddenly went off.

"What's up?" Avalon asked, bringing her communicator to her mouth.

"We've got an attack in Reefside," Tommy said. "But that's not all. Angel Grove and Stone Canyon are being attacked, too."

* * *

 **A/N:** I'm excited and I'm the one writing the story! Like, super excited. You guys have no idea. I'm so glad you guys are enjoying it so much as I continue to write. It'll be updated again on Thursday, along with an update to _Headstrong_ (the first part of the Bailey series and a direct sequel to _Ready When You Are_ ) as well. You'll want to read that for things with Avalon and Bailey to be explained further.

Thanks to **AliceLouiseVA123, lizziestrong, Adela, brankel1, Son of Whitebeard, Guest/LadyKeren (lol), Ashley, Remi, TerraHart, and LaPatz283495** for reviewing.

Thanks to **xoxMountainGirlxox** for the idea for Trent having lupus.

Please remember to review; if you have anything to comment about, anything to mention, or anything to say, I would love to hear it and it motivates me to write more. I respond to every review I get even if it's anonymous.

I'm available to reach by PM here, on my twitter account AvalonAvenue and my tumblr AvalonBayBlog.

 **~Av**


	34. Chapter 34: A Thing of The Past

**Chapter 34**

 _A Thing of The Past  
_

* * *

Conner grimaced and rubbed his shoulder, feeling the bruise that had already begun to form overnight. The fight they had gone through the day before had been the toughest one yet. What was worse to see was how Dr. O reacted to seeing his home town get attacked all at the same time.

Conner, Kira, Ethan, Bailey, Tommy, and Avalon had taken down the Tyrannodrones as quickly as they could but once they reached a television set to see what the news coverage was saying about the rest of the cities, the fights were over. They watched as the news cameras panned over downtown Angel Grove to show the reconstruction that had been going on since Astronema had destroyed most of the city—as Tommy had relayed to Conner and Ethan through one of their famous stories—was demolished once more. Tommy lifted a shaking hand to the glass window of the shop then clenched his hand into a fist before striking the glass.

Then they went back to the basement lab and got information from their friends in Stone Canyon and Angel Grove that they were okay and they tried fending off the forces as much as they could, but had to fall back and needed help. It was then Tommy declared that they were all going to be going to Angel Grove to meet up with their friends and figure out what to do from there.

It worked out well, in an ironic sense as their school was going off on Thanksgiving Break. But convincing his family that he was going off on a school trip that Tommy was sanctioning was the hard part…especially because his parents seemed to try their hardest not to believe him. Or maybe Eric sabotaged him in some way. Or maybe it was because they were starting to become suspicious of him. His grades were steady, only because of the rangers consistently studying with each other, but he knew he wasn't acting as he usually did. While he continued to focus on soccer, it wasn't as much of his life as it used to be, they worried when he said that the new crop of bruises that popped up on him was because of rough soccer practices, looked at him funny when he said he came back late because he was hanging out with his friends—the same friends that he had, truthfully drifted away from, and his personality had changed.

He tried to have as much fun out of the day as he could, when not thinking about the inevitably attack that was going to come. When it didn't came he found himself feeling like a normal teen, laughing with Kira, Ethan, and Bailey at the Cyberspace café, when Kira wasn't onstage performing her songs, Ethan wasn't showing him the latest computer game with Devin, and Bailey wasn't showing off her photography skills; something Conner hadn't known she was into until recently.

Now things were sort of strained with them all; he and Bailey weren't talking, Kira continued to avoid certain topics of conversation if bringing up her parents was going to be involved, and Ethan seemed to jump at every loud sound that happened in the café while looking over his shoulder at the source of the sound.

They needed to set that all straight if they were going to be in Angel Grove, taking down the monsters that were there and in nearby Stone Canyon. Especially if he was going to lead them all to do it.

Letting out a deep breath, Conner picked up his sports bag and headed downstairs, taking a quickly made permission slip off his dresser as he went. He went down into the living room, finding his mother and step-father curled up on the couch, watching an old classic movie. Conner glanced at the screen, recognizing it as a movie he used to love watching when he was a kid.

"Hey mom," Conner greeted his mother with a smile. It faded into a nervous one as he looked at his step-father. "Michael, uh, do you think you could sign this permission slip for me? I know it's last minute but I lost it and—"

"—what's it for?" Michael interrupted. He reached out and took the slip of paper from Conner's fingers. His eyebrows rose as he looked it over. "A school trip? Over Thanksgiving Break?"

"Oh, Conner!" His mother sat up and looked at the permission slip in dismay. "Your grandparents were excited to see you, you know they're coming in for the holiday. And you're not going to be here?"

"I'm sorry, but this just sprang up last minute," Conner said. _Technically, it did, anyway,_ he thought. "My science class is going to Yellowstone to go camping. It's great for extra credit and it sounds like it's going to be a fun trip."

"Ha!" Eric snorted from behind him. "Since when do you care about extra credit? I bet you can't even spell it."

Conner glared at him over his shoulder before turning back to his parents. "Dr. O said that this could be something that would look great on my college applications, too. You know I'm going to have to start filling them out soon and I thought it'd be kind of cool. So can I go? He's going to be here soon."

Michael grunted. He handed the slip of paper to his wife and stood up from the couch, towering above Conner. It was only by a few inches but Conner still felt that he was a little kid, peering up at a bully who was about to hit him. "Do you know how inconsiderate you're being?" He demanded. "Just like always, Conner the screw-up. You're upsetting your mother all because you're too dumb to remember to bring up an important school trip."

Now Conner glared at him. "I thought you'd be happy that I want to go," he said. "I said it's good for college. When am I ever going to get another experience like this? I thought you wanted me to have something to fall back on when I'm not playing soccer. Man, I can't do anything right in your eyes."

Michael took in a deep breath through his nose and started to say something, but Conner's mother cut him off. "Honey, we should let him go. Conner's right, it is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

Conner looked at his mother in surprise. He couldn't remember the last time she defended him against her husband. He was surprised to find her quickly scribbling her name on the dotted line with her loopy handwriting then handed it back to him. Just as Conner grabbed the other end, his mother tightened her grip and looked him in the eye.

"I hope you have a good time, sweetie," she said, looking at him earnestly. "Please call if you need anything."

Conner nodded, taking the paper. He looked back and forth between the two then at Eric, before leaving the house. He had the sneaking suspicion they knew about him being a ranger, was close to finding out, or at least was suspicious of him. He couldn't think about it too much, hurrying to his car and driving to Ethan's place to pick him up.

He was already waiting on the front porch when Conner pulled up. "Hey dude," Conner greeted him.

"Hey," Ethan replied. He ambled down the steps and climbed into the passenger seat of the car. "So how did you parents take it?"

"Pretty well, I think," Conner said slowly. "My step-dad harped on me about it for a bit but that's normal for him. What about you?'

"My mom and dad were annoyed that I hadn't said anything about it before." Ethan leaned back in his seat and rolled his eyes. "It's not like I can say; sorry mom, sorry dad. There's a city that we've never been to before that's being blown up as we speak and as a power ranger I need to go save them? Yeah, they'd probably send me to some sort of a mental hospital and band me from my video games."

Conner laughed. "Yeah, I get what you mean." He wanted nothing more than to tell them the truth, but couldn't. He glanced at Ethan when he backed down the driveway and headed on the street once more. "My mom's starting to ask me a lot of questions. I think she saw my bruise from the last fight."

"Yeah, I worked hard to keep my cuts covered but I think my mom and dad noticed them, too." Ethan chuckled a dark chuckle. "I'm thinking of telling them that I'm being bullied. They might react to that, better."

"I don't know, dude, negating a lie with a lie isn't the best thing to do," Conner said. He placed his hand on his chest. "Trust me, I know from experience." He expected Ethan to make some sort of a 'dumb jock' joke at his expense. He had grown to find them humorous. But Ethan didn't say anything. Instead, the blue ranger stayed silent, turning to look out the window. It took a second for Conner to understand. "What? Really? Dude…why didn't you say anything?"

"Um, because of the age old ploy that bullies will beat your face in if you ever tell anyone," Ethan replied.

"Has he hit you or anything?"

"Not really."

"Dude…"

"A couple of times. Maybe he shoved me into my locker, it's not a big deal."

Of course it was a big deal. It was a big deal to Conner. Now he understood what Tommy and Jason meant saying he had a big responsibility of being the red ranger, of being the leader. It wasn't just that he was to lead everyone into battle, but that he had to be there for the rest of the group. To be an ear to lean on or a shoulder to lend or…whatever that saying was. But he hadn't done that. He was too busy worrying about his own life and trying to keep things together for him to care so much about everyone else.

Conner made a decision then, he knew what he was going to do.

Pressing harder on the gas pedal, Conner drove towards Kira's house. Ethan sat up in the passenger seat, grabbing onto the handle resting above the door. His eyes widened as Conner flew around a corner. "Are you _trying_ to kill us before we go on one of the biggest adventures of our lives?"

"Not exactly," Conner muttered.

Pulling up to the Ford's house, Conner threw the car in park and, leaving it running, hurried up to the front door. He started to rapidly knock, taking a break between a few to listen hard. He didn't heard the sound of any scuffles or anything coming from inside but knew that wasn't good. From the few times he had been around Kira's family he remembered silence being the worst thing. Mr. Ford would usually stand and watch the two in silence, making them both—or three when Cassidy was there—uncomfortable until they left.

Now that Conner thought about it, Kira would usually show up at school the next day with some sort of an excuse as to why she was wearing long sleeves or had a black eye.

 _"I ran into a wall."_

 _"I fell down the stairs."_

 _"I tripped."_

 _"This? That's nothing, it's just a scratch."_

 _"I'm really clumsy."_

They were pretty young but Conner still couldn't believe he fell for any of it. Conner was still knocking on the door when it was suddenly pulled open and his hand shot forward, nearly hitting Kira in the forehead. She blinked—or maybe flinched—in surprise before bringing up her hand and grabbing onto Conner's before he could strike her.

"Uh, we have a doorbell," she said to him.

"Right." Conner licked his lips. "Uh, are you ready to go? Ethan's waiting in the car."

Kira's eyes narrowed. "I told you I was going to meet you back at the lab."

"You did?" Conner wracked his brain, trying to remember if she had. It was possible. They had made plans to all meet up at the lab before teleporting to Angel Grove. That was for everyone though. Conner's heart pounded as he listened hard, waiting for any footsteps that could be coming their way. Kira looked relaxed but she had proved she was a good actress.

"Yeah, we made that plan just yesterday remember?" Then Kira's irritated expression turned to one of mild concern. Her eyes shifted. "Is everything okay, Conner? I mean, you weren't too hurt yesterday were you?"

"Me? Hurt? Never." Conner managed to flash a charming smile. "What about you? Are you okay?"

"Those Tyrannodrones don't know what hit them," Kira boasted. Then she winced at her statement, immediately realizing her blunder. "Oh, you mean that?"

"Yeah…" Conner took a step towards her. "Is everything okay?"

"You mean is everything okay with me springing on them that I'm leaving on a class trip for over Thanksgiving Break?" Kira managed a waning smile. "I haven't told them yet. Actually, I was just going to finish packing and then sneak out. The sooner I'm away the better."

"But…wouldn't your dad be mad if you did that? Like… _really_ mad?"

"Yeah. But I think the fates of our cities are more important than what's going on at home. Elsa and Zeltrax just said that they were going to Angel Grove." She shook her head. "I don't even know how they knew that's where we were headed. It's so strange, but we have to stop them, right?"

"Right."

Conner thought back to the fight they had the day before. It had been a hard one; Elsa, the Tyrannodrones, and the monster of the day had been really tough. This monster had the ability to control the gravity of the rangers and it wasn't until they used their combined blaster to destroy that mechanism before they got the chance to fight up close and then eventually use the Thundersaurus Megazord.

Then Elsa mentioned that she was going to see them in Angel Grove before disappearing. That had sent a ripple of fear through the rangers, demanding to know how Elsa knew of their plan there. That was only seconds before they saw the news reports of what had been going on and they determined it was time to leave.

Conner lifted his gaze and locked eyes with Kira. She looked back at him. His eyes searched hers, then roamed the planes of her face, looking for a bruise or a mark of some sort, then came back to her eyes once more, finding himself lost in them. It wasn't until they heard the sound of another door slamming in the house that they were broken from their spell.

Kira immediately paled and whipped around, her braided pigtails hitting her in the face as she gasped. "Dad's home," she muttered. "He's home early. Quick, Conner-"

Before she could finish her sentence, her father, Greer, turned the corner and stopped in his tracks, looking at Conner and Kira. His eyes flicked back and forth between the two before landing o his daughter. Kira gulped and took a step away from Conner. "H-hi, Dad" she stammered.

"Kira," Greer said. He took in a menacing breath through his nose and strolled over. "And…who is this?"

"Um, Conner…" Kira mumbled.

"What was that?" Greer demanded. "I thought I told you not to mumble when someone's speaking to you."

Conner stepped forward and held out his hand. "Conner McKnight, sir!" He continued to hold out his hand while Greer looked at him with disdain. Conner forced himself to look Greer in the eye until Greer lifted his hand and grasped Conner's squeezing it tightly.

"McKnight…" Greer repeated. Then his eyes brightened in recognition. "Oh yes, I remember you. You used to be over here all the time with that Cassidy Cornell girl."

"Right, that was me."

"So what are you doing here now?" Greer's eyes slowly narrowed and he looked at Kira suspiciously. Kira lowered her head, chewing her lower lip. "She's not supposed to have boys over."

"Ah, well, I came to drive her to school," Conner explained. "There's a school trip we're going on and I had the space. So I graciously offered to drive."

"What school trip?" Greer barked, making Kira jump.

"We're going to Yellowstone," Conner lied smoothly. "Camping, studying nature, roughing it and all that." He shrugged. "And hoping that we don't get eaten by bears." He chuckled a nervous chuckle. It wasn't to be cute, he really was nervous. He didn't think this was going to work. Sweat was already starting to drip down his back.

"How come you didn't say anything?" Greer snapped. This time Kira flinched backwards towards Conner.

"It's a last minute thing," Conner spoke up again. He took a step in front of Kira. "We need to go now or else we'll be late. We really need this; it's an extra credit thing, great for college and all of that." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "You can call my parents and ask if you want? Or Dr. Oliver." He turned to the side and pointed out the door. "Or you can ask Ethan James, smartest kid in our class; it was his idea to go."

Greer's upper lip curled. He looked at Conner for another long moment then reached out his hand, grabbing Kira's upper arm. "Go get packed. Don't make me change my mind or you'll regret it!"

"I'm already packed dad," Kira said. "I was just about to leave." Then she realized she had said the wrong thing.

"You were going to leave without telling us?!" Greer's voice raised so loud that it echoed around he foyer.

"We were just about to leave a note, Mr. Ford, we're really late," Conner explained. He placed his hands in his jeans pockets and waited quietly. Kira looked between the two before scurrying upstairs. When she came back down, she held a yellow duffle bag in her hands.

"Bye dad." She paused then leaned over to give him a hug. Probably to keep up appearances. Greer hugged Kira back, glaring at Conner over her shoulder, squeezing Kira a little too tight from Conner's point-of-view.

Then the two left the house a few moments later. Kira fell into step with Conner. "Thanks," She said quietly with a small, sincere smile. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone stand up to him like that." Conner looked at her in surprise. "My mom…she just acts like nothing's going on."

"You know what I said before?" Conner looked at her earnestly. "If you don't do it soon…"

"I know." Kira reached out and squeezed Conner's hand, giving him another smile. Then she ducked her head and hurried to the car, dropping her bag into the backseat before climbing in next to it. Conner got into the driver's seat and looked over at Ethan, who sat back in the passenger seat with his eyes closed.

Either he was pretending like nothing had just happened between Conner and Kira or he was as exhausted as the rest of them.

This needed to end soon.

* * *

Bailey stretched her arms out in front of her, listening to Billy's side of his phone conversation as he paced back and forth in the Olivers' kitchen. "Yes, we'll see you then and explain everything once we get there. Just as long as everything is ready for us, same coordinates for when Cassie, Ashley, Carlos, and TJ went up into space. Once I get back to the old Command Center I can give you the direct coordinates. See you then. It was great talking to you General Norquist."

Billy hung up and turned to his friends. "I explained everything to NASADA; they're going to have everything ready for us when we get to Angel Grove. It may take a while to get the exact coordinates and to make sure their rocket is in top shape to go that far through the galaxy." He nodded to Tommy. "Once it's ready we can get to Eltar."

"Then we can get our powers and come back to help the others," Zack agreed. He reached up his hand and rubbed his mouth. "Do you think they're ready to go against these guys without us there to help?"

Tommy nodded. "They're a strong team. If they're going to prove themselves, this is when they're going to do it." He looked over at Bailey. "I know Conner's the leader, but you're more experienced with the monsters these guys are going up again. I need you to be the mentor for them while we're gone."

Bailey's eyebrows came together. "You and Av aren't coming with us?"

"I know my way around Eltar to get back to the compound I was when I was able to get Jason's Power Coin. He's going to stay here with you guys while Av comes with me up there."

Bailey started to protest then stopped. What was she so worried about? When she was really young and without her powers she managed to save the parents of Angel Grove from Ivan Ooze's rule and that had been the toughest monster at the time. But now she had some new powers and there were different monsters that they had to face. But this was her home that she needed to save. She could do that and she's dace it head on.

"You got it," Bailey said, giving a thumbs up. "We can hold the fort while you're gone."

"If you do as well as you did with Ivan, then you'll get a medal," Avalon agreed. She paused. "Or at least a key to the city."

"Does anyone else think that we should've gotten that by now?" Kimberly asked. "I mean, a whole day for us is already cool, but not even the key to the city? Like, come on." She grinned at the imitation of her younger self, making the others smile as well.

"As soon as the others get here we can go," Tommy said.

"What are we going to do about Trent?" Trini asked. Tommy looked at her in confusion. "We just found out that every time he morphs he has a chance of his evil side taking over rather than him being able to control it. It's not like anything we've come across before."

"From the studies I've been able to do on the White Dino Gem as well as Tommy's, Bailey's and Avalon's gems, there doesn't seem to be anything different in terms of the elemental make up," Billy explained. "I've asked Hayley and she said that the energy sources for it were the same."

"What does that mean for Trent, then?" Jason asked.

Billy crossed his arms. "I think something's controlling him."

"But you just said that the Gem isn't doing it," Avalon pointed out.

He nodded. "I'm not talking about the Gem. I'm talking about an outside source. Maybe once he morphs Elsa or Zeltrax or Mesogog is getting a hold of him and effectively forcing him to be evil."

"It does make sense," Kimberly remarked. "And, you guys, Elsa did say that she was going to be going to Angel Grove, too. Maybe they're tracking the White Ranger and plan on using him against the other rangers while they're trying to stop Rita and Zedd?"

"So we'll have to get to Eltar and back fast," Avalon said. She snapped for emphasis.

"That's the plan." Tommy pushed himself from the counter as there was a rapid knock at the door. But he didn't get a chance to get it as there was a sudden gust of wind and Kira, Ethan, and Trent all appeared in the kitchen, one by one, with their bags, before Conner came to a stop along with them.

He let out a breath and lowered the bottom of his shirt, brushing back his hair. "Hey," he greeted. "We're here."

"You really need to warn people when you're about to use your super speed like that," Kira commented, bringing a hand to her stomach. Her cheeks puffed out and she looked like she was about to puke. She flashed Trent a grateful smile as he gently rubbed her back.

"And make sure they don't get whiplash," Ethan added, reaching up to rub his neck. He winced and rolled it to the side. "I think I actually saw stars for a moment there."

"Sorry guys, I'm not used to bringing people with me," Conner said, smiling sheepishly. He then rubbed his hands together. "Now that everyone's here, we can get going."

"Wait." Tommy held out his hand. "I need your permission slips first."

Ethan looked at him like he had grown a second head. "I thought they were fake? I mean, I know we're going on a _trip_ but…"

"They are, but if your parents ever call, I need the contact information they put in to give them some updates." Tommy scratched the back of his head. "And figure out how to take pictures on my cell phone or whatever it is that people do now."

Zack threw his head back and laughed. He reached out and patted Tommy on the shoulder. "Remind me to give you a crash course on everything internet and technology when we're done with all of this. You really need to get used to it."

"I believe it's time to go," Billy reminded them.

"Okay. We're going to teleport to the Power Chamber. With the protective shield placed around it, it'll be harder for anyone to track it down. Especially because it's been out of commission for the last couple of years. Once there we can regroup and figure out where to go from there."

Bailey nodded along with the others.

Then Tommy gave the signal and they all pressed the side buttons on their communicators that triggered their teleportation. Bailey felt the familiar tingle that started from her feet and move through the rest of her body before she turned into a bright purple beam of light and shot through the sky. It took only a few moments until they landed.

Bailey felt herself start to smile as she looked around the darkened room. Even without a lot of light she knew it was the Power Chamber, where they had worked out of as the Zeo Rangers. It felt like home. Like everything she had ever been missing came back. Turning around, Bailey went to the control panel and pressed a few buttons, triggering the lighting response that light up the main chamber.

Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Trent gasped in surprise as they looked around. It wasn't as advanced as their new lab beneath Tommy's house, but it was still amazing for them to see where the older rangers had worked out of.

"Whoa," Conner breathed.

"This is so cool!" Ethan practically squealed.

"It looks so retro," Trent agreed. He pulled a sketchpad out of his backpack and started to make quick marks on the paper around him.

Kira walked over to the eight colorful tubes that sat on the wall behind them, holding their Mighty Morphin' suits. Kira placed her hand on the tube of the yellow suit and gently rubbed her hand against it. "Wow, these are yours?"

"They look kinda—" Ethan started.

"Lame!" Conner interrupted. Kira and Ethan both elbowed him in the side. "Ow! What?"

Tommy, Kimberly, Billy, Trini, Zack, Jason, Avalon, and Bailey all laughed but didn't respond. Instead, they continued to look around the Power Chamber, taking in the wave of nostalgia that hit them.

 _Has it really been that long?_ Bailey thought. _Since the original five started and since Av and I came along? Has it been so long since I started with the Ankylosaurus Power Coin? Since we were going against Goldar and Rito and Scorpina and all of them?_ Bailey walked up to the tube that held her old suit and could practically see her younger self looking back at her, complete with glasses and her every present ponytail. She looked so different now, older, wearing contact, had more fashion sense and more curves.

She could see she was stronger, too. The martial arts training that she still studied gave her muscle definition in her arms and legs and it had been very long since she needed someone to come help her out in battle.

There was a sudden beeping sound that gathered everyone's attention. She and Billy walked over to the control panel and looked at the readings that were being given. "We've got a power source coming in," Billy relayed.

"And coming in fast," Bailey agreed.

She looked up white lights materialized into the Power Chamber, revealing Rocky, Adam, Aisha, Tanya, and Kat once the light faded. Everyone started to talk all at once again when the rangers met up with their old friends, leaving Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Trent to stand aside.

Bailey smiled as she hugged her old friends, fielding the statements that she was now older and taller and that they were excited to see her. She expected it, she was only eleven years old when she started as a ranger. Then Bailey turned and watched as Kat wrapped her arms around Tommy's neck and hugged him tightly and Tommy closed his eyes, resting his chin on his girlfriend's shoulder. Then he leaned back and gave her a long kiss.

Bailey smiled, but not as wide as Kat, finally able to see her boyfriend again. Despite Bailey only seeing one side of it, their long distance relationship had been hard on both of them. Tommy busied himself with his work to keep his mind off it and it had worked well until seeing her again.

"I'm glad you're okay," Kat said to him. "After we saw what happened in Reefside…"

"—We didn't have much time to prepare before things started going south here in Angel Grove," Tanya said. She looped her arm around Adam's waist and leaned into his side. "We already had our things packed but they moved in and attacked fast."

"Like they've been watching us," Adam agreed.

"They have been," Avalon explained. "Rita and Zedd have been staking out Angel Grove while King Mondo and the lot were looking over Stone Canyon." She tilted her head up. "And Divatox…we think she's in space."

"In space?" Rocky repeated.

"Able to watch what's going on and be used as a last resort," Trini explained. "Our theory, anyway."

"It looks like Mesogog is using each of the monsters we've faced before and using them as a sort of…tier of villainy or something," Zack added.

Ethan snapped his fingers. "Just like in Warlocks of Doom! You see, you're basically running a gauntlet through the entire game and you have to go through a certain amount of evil warlocks and their henchmen before you get a slight reprieve before going to the next tier." He popped the collar of his blue polo shirt. "I managed to get there two-thirds of the way through before I needed to heal."

"Ignore him, he's a major computer nerd," Conner said.

Kira and Trent rolled their eyes. Then Kira took a step forward and waved. "Hi, I'm Kira. I'm the new Yellow Ranger."

"I'm Trent." He paused for a second. "The new white ranger…I guess." He glanced at Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Bailey before looking at his feet once more.

"That's Conner the new red, and Ethan, the new blue," Kimberly finished the introductions.

"So you're the new team then," Rocky said, looking them up and down. He nodded his approval. "I think they're going to do just fine."

"They'll have to, considering what you've been telling us about your plan," Aisha said. She looked worried, wrapping her arms around her stomach. "Are you sure it's going to work."

"At the moment, the only thing I'm sure about is that we have to move fast," Tommy said. "And that every second counts."

Bailey listened as Tommy continued to explain everything that was going on to their friends while she connected the Viewing Globe to its power source. A picture of Angel Grove appeared on screen, scrolling across the cityscape. She felt herself starting to smile at the same time a wave of sadness washed over her. This was a place she had lived in for years and became a home to her since leaving her hometown of Sydney. It was where so many great things happened and as equally bad things happened. She was going to have to face Mr. and Mrs. Oliver's death head on soon and she had no time to prepare.

Tilting her head, Bailey continued to study the views of Angel Grove that was being shown to her. A familiar figure caught her eye and she held her breath, leaning forward to get a closer look. Her heart crammed into her throat as she held her breath.

Was she imagining things?

No.

There was no doubt about it.

Bailey brought up her communicator and quickly teleported out of the Power Chamber and down to the coordinates from the Viewing Globe. Once landing, she took a deep breath and looked around. It only took a few seconds for her to spot him coming her way.

Bailey stared, waiting for him to notice her. Finally, he looked up from his phone and locked eyes with her. He looked taken aback for a second.

"Fred!"

Fred Kelman grinned and hurried over to Bailey. The two came together in a tight hug.

Bailey closed her eyes, resting her forehead against his shoulder.

Yes, she was home.

* * *

 **A/N:** Fighting is coming back in the next chapter!

And now you know what's up with Kim/Tommy/Kat. There were hints to it as the story went on but here's my thing: I like Tommy/Kim and I like Tommy/Kat. I, honestly, don't see Kat as a 'replacement' for Kim as a love interest because like real teenage relationships people can move on quickly and people can get into relationships at all times.

That being said, I also think that while it's possible for Tommy/Kim to get back together when they're adults I think it's equally as possible that they don't. They're completely different people from the way they were when they were teens and Kim has been out of being a ranger for so long while Tommy can't see to get away from it. I feel they're at different points in their lives when Dino Thunder comes around so I feel that (for this story anyway) Tommy is with Kat.

I hope you major Tommy/Kim fans aren't too upset and continue to read.

Thanks to **zombie-hunt, Adela, lizziestrong, brankel1, Ashley, Ev3rly89, ToxicWednesday, AliceLouiseVA123, TerraHart, and LaPatz283495** for reviewing.

Please remember to review; if you have anything to comment about, anything to mention, or anything to say, I would love to hear it and it motivates me to write more. I respond to every review I get even if it's anonymous.

I'm available to reach by PM here, on my twitter account AvalonAvenue and my tumblr AvalonBayBlog.

 **~Av**


	35. Chapter 35: Changes

**Chapter 35**

 _Changes_

* * *

"Not that I think being here isn't cool and all, but do we really have time for this?" Zack asked as he brought his arms above his head to stretch. "We all know it's only a matter of time until there's another attack."

"That's why we have to do this, Zack," Trini said to him. She reached out and grasped his shoulder, gently shaking it. "You never know how much time we have left to do things like this and besides."She waved her hand towards Angel Grove High School. "When was the last time you were here?"

"When we left," Zack replied.

His voice took on a somber tone, making his friends look at him. Zack let out a long sigh, knowing it wasn't much longer until they started to get really curious about what his life was like after leaving Angel Grove. It wasn't that he was ashamed of it by any means; he made peace with his life and knew there was always going to be something or someone who had judgmental thoughts about what happened.

Zack repeated the words to himself. 'What happened', not just the question he would just asked time and time again when he mentioned he had a stint in jail, but as the title he gave the incident. He spent so much of his time to make peace with it and yet he still couldn't mention it by name. Maybe he was still a little bit ashamed of it.

Because none of it was his fault. He had just moved from Angel Grove to an entirely new city and the next thing he knew, word had spread of why he moved there and soon shady guys were coming up to him. Asking if he wanted to hang out. Zack refused each time knowing what they were truly asking. Soon 'no' didn't work for them and he was forced into it. Nothing happened at first, and then he found they were starting to act even shadier around him, looking at him funny, making sure he didn't go certain places when there were police around.

Then he had gotten stopped while walking home from school and drugs were found on him. He didn't do any drugs, never smoked more than a cigarette after the time he, Jason, and Billy had gotten so sick when they tried it. And yet the police were convinced the drugs were his and that he was part of the group around them and that he knew what he was doing. Zack was in prison for three years and atoned for it every chance he got. He found God and prayed every day. His parents believed him when he said the drugs weren't his and while upset over him being in prison and fined, they visited him every chance they got.

Tommy, Avalon, and Bailey knew the bare bones of the story and he never mentioned it to anyone else. How would they understand when they had all been so straight lace over the years? How would they understand that while in prison he continued to have to protect himself? Zack was jumped the first day there, given a shiner and a black and blue stomach all because he didn't understand the pecking order of the food line. It wasn't the last time he was attacked but Zack learned how to defend himself. He got the tattoos and everything needed to ensure the rest of his stay would be easy.

And yet he never forgot what it meant to be a ranger the entire time. He made a promise to himself that once he was set free he would remind himself of Jason's martial arts lessons, the themes he presented to each of his students. That fighting would be the last line of defense and being a good person was the first.

It worked.

But now being back at Angel Grove high school and seeing everything that _hadn't_ changed since he left—the school looked exactly the same—it was like he couldn't get rid of the things that was haunting him.

"Oh, come on Zack, this is fun," Kimberly said. She looped her arm through his as she, Zack, Trini, Jason, Rocky, Adam, and Aisha headed up the front steps to the school. "I just wish that everyone else could be here."

Jason rubbed her shoulder. "You know Tommy still had some things he needed to figure out at his parents' house," he reminded her.

"Yeah, I know. But…we're his friends we could've helped."

"It's something that the three of them really need to figure out on their own. And you know Kat can keep Tommy as calm as he needs to be. You know how he can get when things start to spiral around him. And he'll call if he needs us."

"Yeah, I guess."

The group slowly walked into the front doors of the school. Zack's eyebrows widened as he looked around the receptionist area. Even with a few coats of paint, some different colors, it felt the same way it always did. Like he was safe there. All the memories immediately came flooding back. How and his friends were so scared to start freshman year despite not admitting it to each other. How he started the dance club, how he joined the different sports teams and activities and clubs that the school offered to them. The football games and bonfires, the dances and spirit week. Everything that a teen was looking forward to.

And yet, all the same he felt like he missed out just because of their ranger duties .Sure, they rarely attacked during school, but there was so much going on that it was hard to pretend they were normal. Too many bruises, pulled muscles, sprains, breaks that teachers looked at and questioned and they had to face it all with a smile.

"Man, this place looks so small," Rocky commented, placing his hands on his hips. "Hard to believe it used to be so big." He paused for a second. "Let's check out the cafeteria."

"Rocky, it's not lunchtime yet," Aisha reminded her fiancé.

"So? They serve food all day and I'm starving," Rocky said.

The group laughed.

"Some things never change," Trini said.

"Some things do," Zack replied.

A door behind the receptionist's desk opened and a tall, bald man walked out of the office, holding onto a folder. Zack glanced at him, looked away for a minute, and then looked back. He then started to laugh, grabbing the man's attention. Principal Kaplan looked at them in surprise before a smile lit up his face.

"I don't believe it! Everyone's here," he said. "Kimberly Hart, Jason Scott, Zachary Taylor…oh it's so good to see all of you!" He walked around the desk and stopped to give each girl a hug and each guy a firm handshake. "What are you doing here? It's not homecoming."

"Yeah, well, we decided to have a little reunion of our own," Aisha said. She was grinning just as wide as he was. "It's so great to see you, Mr. Kaplan."

"Yeah you…don't look like you've changed at all," Adam said. Aisha elbowed him in the side and he smiled, bowing his head.

Principal Kaplan cleared his throat and ran a hand over his head, almost nervously. "Yes, well, there's only so many things that can be done to run this school to stay as ship-shape as possible." He stood up straight. "High marks in academics and athletics. 100% graduation rate, 100% college acceptance."

"That's great," Kimberly said.

"And I know you all have gone on to do such great things," Principal Kaplan agreed. "Gymnastics coach, owners of your own gym, doing amazing things in Africa, so many of the students here want to follow in your footsteps." He then looked around the group, his eyebrows coming together. "What about Tommy Oliver and Tanya Sloan?" He held up his hand in apology. "I'm sorry, Tanya Park."

Adam grinned. "Tanya's doing great," he said. "She's singing as much as possible and loving every minute of it."

"Yeah and as for Tommy he's now a teacher at Reefside High School," Jason said. "Paleontology." Principal Kaplan blinked in surprise.

Zack laughed. "Yeah, it was a surprise to us, too." He and Jason exchanged a look and the two fist-bumped as they continued to laugh. "And Avalon's working as a fitness instructor. There's so much a lot of us have been doing and been through."

"And who would've thought you'd all end up here," Principal Kaplan said. Warmth oozed through his voice. "Well, we'll have time to get together to reminisce later, I'm sure you want to get some guest passes to go see your other teachers, huh?"

And that's what they did. The rangers got passes from Principal Kaplan and walked from room to room, visiting their old teachers. For the classes, even if there wasn't a teacher they'd recognize, someone from the class would recognize them. They'd introduce themselves and talk about the things they had gone on to do after high school. It made Zack smile, seeing how excited the students got.

That was his life now, working with youth. To make sure they didn't end up like he did, even if it was an accident, even if it wasn't their fault.

 _And that's why we still have our duties as rangers, even if we haven't been the Power Rangers for years,_ Zack thought. It wasn't much longer until they would be going to space to get their powers back to continue that fight.

Then they found Ms. Appleby. She was teaching her social studies class when Zack knocked on the door and bounded in saying, "Hey party people!" At the top of his lungs. And Ms. Appleby let out a slight screech, before hugging each of the rangers to her. Each time she got a good look at one of her former students she would screech all over again.

"Oh, oh, I just…I just can't believe I'm seeing you all again," Ms. Appleby said. She turned to her students. "Class, these are some of my former students. They were certainly some of the best I've ever had. Great in school, a very lively part of the student life and very polite I must add. It's such a surprise to see you all. And looking as beautiful and handsome as ever."

"You're not looking too bad yourself, Ms. Appleby," Rocky replied.

"Looks like all of those years with Bulk and Skull didn't wear you down as you thought it would," Kimberly teased.

Ms. Appleby waved her hand. "Please, those boys were harmless. Annoying, but harmless. So what's going on? What are you all up to?" She listened as the rangers went through each of them to hear what they were doing with their lives since graduating and once again Zack stayed silent.

What was he supposed to say? That he was unemployed and crashing on his friend's couch as he tried to find someone who could look by his past felony charge and see that he wasn't a bad person. How could he be a bad person, he was a ranger.

For the rest of the conversation with Ms. Appleby and other teachers, Zack stayed silent, thinking about what he was going to do to move forward after they got back from their mission.

And how things were going to change.

* * *

Tommy took a deep breath as he stood at the front door to the Oliver house. The _former_ Oliver house as it were. It looked like things were being kept up pretty well; the grass was cut, the weeds were killed, flowers bloomed in the bushes that lined the walkways. The house had a fresh coat of paint, standing at a brilliant white, the shudders a nice shade of navy blue that stood out against the pristine white.

Everything that his mother said she would do that she hadn't done. The day they were to visit—Tommy swallowed hard. The lump in his throat was bigger than he thought it would be. Maybe he had spent too much time away for it to realize that it would finally hit him. He hadn't been prepared to know what an empty house would feel and sound like.

Empty.

It was a strange feeling. Kat was standing right beside him, gently rubbing her hand over his lower back and yet he couldn't feel anything. He knew she was there but to him there was no one there but him and the ghosts of his past.

"Tommy?" Kat asked. Her voice was low, soothing. "Maybe we should come back later."

Tommy cleared his throat. He swallowed hard, twice. Then he cleared his throat again. "No, its okay," he said. "I…I just wanted to get a good picture, you know?" Kat nodded but didn't say anything else. She continued to run her hand up and down his back. She felt his muscles clench and unclench every few seconds. As if he was steeling himself for what was going to happen. "I'm okay."

Reaching into his pocket, Tommy pulled out the house key he always had with him. Maybe as a sort of reminder, maybe because he was too torn up to get rid of it. No matter what, he had it and he never let it out of his sight, even when showering. It slid into the lock with and turned with ease. The sound of the shifting locks may have been a gunshot for as much Tommy jumped.

Finally, he took a deep breath and pushed the door open. Sunlight filtered inside, showcasing the dust particles that swam back and forth. A small layer of dust sat over everything but it was all the same. The bench by the front door that his mother had hand painted was starting to peel, fading and bleached from the sun that came through the front door. The curtain, which he could see in the living room, was starting to fade as well.

It hadn't been that long since they passed and yet it felt like an eternity. Tommy continued to stroll through the house, staring at everything that had been boxed up and others had been left. There wasn't much time for everything to stay the same, the house to be sold. Tommy knew that, it was a favor given to him by Commander Stone. He had a certain amount of time to get things together and shipped out before the property was sold.

"I waited too long," Tommy said to himself. He walked to the den, where he and his family would spend many nights watching movies together, where his parents would help him with his homework when he was having trouble, where they would play board games together…and found it completely empty.

His footsteps echoed across the hardwood floor. Tommy walked to the center of the room and slowly sank down until he was in a crouch, looking up at the room around him. He let out a sigh and ran a hand through his spiked hair, feeling it start to shake. No, his whole body was shaking. His chest hurt. His heart hurt. How long had it been since he truly grieved over everything.

 _"Tommy…it's…it's bad. Your parents…I'm sorry but…there was an accident. A car accident. The other driver was drunk. And…I'm sorry, but they didn't make it.…call me as soon as you get this. I'm sorry, man."_

What terrible new to deliver, as equally horrific as to receive.

In a way he hated Jason for having told him what happened. But who else was the one who would be in the best contact with him? He and Kat had been a couple for a long time and while their communication had never been a problem…they were both very aware of how busy they were becoming and couldn't talk all the time. As it were, Tommy hadn't known if Kat was in London at the time as she split her time equally between England and California.

He would've hated her too if she had been the one to tell him.

He was glad of everyone that had come to the funeral didn't say much to him. He wasn't sure how he would've reacted if they had said something other than being sorry. He would've completely broken down. But he had to be strong for Bailey who cried for days and strong for Avalon who tried her hardest to be tough over it all but eventually, finally broke down when she thought he wasn't around to hear.

He hadn't been able to do so himself, the feeling was starting to become overwhelming.

All because he knew the real reason as to why his life had become so shattered so readily.

"Hey, it's okay." Kat moved to Tommy's front and reached up her hands to wipe at his cheeks. Tommy sniffed, feeling a line of snot roll from his nose. Kat wiped away the tears he hadn't realized he'd been shedding.

He was crying hard now.

Guilt wracked through his body, making him shudder just as hard as his tears wracked his body. Closing his eyes as tight as they'd go, Tommy lowered his forehead and pressed it against his clasped hands. He pushed his thumbs into his forehead, once, twice, three times, striking himself harder and harder each time. "It's my fault," he murmured.

The words came out before he could stop them. But it made the hurt a little less painful as he said it. So he said it again.

"It's my fault."

Kat's movements against his cheeks stopped.

He felt her fingers twitch before dropping from his face.

"It's my fault."

"Tommy?" Kat asked.

He stopped sobbing now, allowing tears to silently fall down his cheeks. He sucked in a deep breath and lifted his chin to look Kat in the eye. Her blue eyes locked back on his with so much concern that Tommy felt his heart start to swell with pride. She could have been with anyone but she chose him, unafraid of the way he was responding, not allowing herself to be pushed away.

Tommy took another deep breath. "My mom and dad…they'd still be alive if it weren't for me," Tommy murmured. "The car accident…it was my fault."

* * *

Avalon stood behind Billy as he unlocked the door to his house. "I still have my key, mate," she remarked.

Billy gave her a small smile over his shoulder. "I know, but I haven't seen my dad in a long while," he said. "Probably sooner than I'd come to see you."

"You said it, not me," Avalon replied.

Billy took a step back and allowed Avalon to go into the house first. She took a deep breath as she looked around. The house was exactly the same, smelled exactly the same. The only thing missing, the only thing that she hadn't experienced for a long time has been long gone. Gone since Diabolico had gotten his strength from Rita to deliver that final blow.

"And I'm assuming there's not much that's keeping you from punching me in the face like you said you wanted to do," Billy said.

"I reckon I'm still holding that in my back pocket in case you make me too angry," Avalon replied.

"Noted." Billy walked further into the house, calling for his father as he went. "Dad! It's me!" A door closed towards the back of the house, where David Cranston's office was. Avalon turned to look, smiling when she spotted him. "Hey Dad." Billy opened his arms and Mr. Cranston grasped onto his son with an enthusiastic hug.

"Great to see you, son," Mr. Cranston replied. He clapped Billy on the back a few times before taking a step back. "When did you get in?"

"Not too long ago," Billy replied. He shoved his hands into his pockets. "A group of us came in. There's some stuff that we need to do and Angel Grove was the only place we could do it."

Mr. Cranston nodded. "You mean with the attacks starting up again." Billy nodded. "I thought it was something that this city had been done with. Since the complete destruction a few years back."

"Well, that's the thing with these guys, nothing is ever done," Avalon said to announce her presence. She walked towards Mr. Cranston, finding herself smiling widely at the man that was more her father than her own father had been. Mr. Cranston blinked in surprise at him for a few moments before he smiled back as well.

"Avalon Mitchell, I haven't seen you around," he said and gave her a strong hug.

Avalon hugged him back.

"I know, I've been going from place to place," Avalon said. She stepped back, tucking her hair behind her ear. "You know me; I've never been able to sit in one place for too long. Once I feel that my time somewhere is done, I go somewhere else, yeah?"

"Then that would explain my inability to get a forwarding address for you," Mr. Cranston remarked.

Embarrassed, Avalon reached up and scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, I haven't been very well with keeping in communication with some people." She looked over at Billy, who looked back at her. "But I'm working on it now." She stepped back and smiled at him. "How are things going with you? Your work at the university still steady?"

"As long as there are students still attending Angel Grove University, then I still have steady work," Mr. Cranston said. "It's actually been pretty rewarding these past couple of years. The department has gotten bigger and bigger." He looked around for a moment. "Bailey isn't with you? I thought you were attached at the hip."

"She's giving some new friends a tour of the city," Avalon said quickly. Better to explain what was going on with their ranger stuff. Though they didn't need to keep it quite a secret, their parents knew about it longer than they thought was possible.

"I'm sorry to ask, but do you plan on stopping by the Oliver's place?"

Billy let out a quiet sigh. "Dad," he warned.

"No one's been there and it's to be foreclosed soon," Mr. Cranston continued. "It'd be good for you to get over there to see what you still want."

Avalon gave a small, sad smile. "I'll make sure to get over there before we leave." _Whenever that is,_ she thought. Mr. Cranston gave her an understanding smile while Billy lowered his chin. Then he glanced at his father with narrowed eyes and Mr. Cranston then turned the smile to him.

"I'm just trying to help," he said. Then he took in a deep breath. "So, with this work you need to, am I correct when I say that time is of the essence?" At Billy's nod, Mr. Cranston paused, contemplating something. "Then I've got something to show you." He motioned for the two to follow him to the kitchen

Mr. Cranston walked to a drawer on the far side of the row of cabinets and pulled it open, taking out a stack of letters. "Like I said, there weren't a lot of addresses I could forward your mail to. There's a lot of this that's pretty old but…there's a lot that's fairly recent too. They've started to come more frequently over the last couple of months."

Avalon took the stack of mail and looked through them. Her eyebrows came together when she spotted the same return address in the corner. She ripped the most recent one open and looked at the stamp at the top _Supreme Court of California. Calvin H. Lewis, Clerk. Supreme Court Building. 105 South 6th Street, 4th Floor. Angel Grove, California 90027._

Then her eyes lowered and she read the letter, feeling her breath catch in her throat.

"Is everything okay?" Billy asked.

"No," Avalon said slowly. "They want me to go to court…to speak as a witness against the Vipers."

* * *

"How many other people are we supposed to bring into this thing?" Conner asked. He brought his hands up to run through his hair. "These past rangers I get, but…how do we know we can trust this guy?"

"If Bailey's bringing him in then he must be okay," Kira replied. She crossed her legs and reached out to take the glass of soda that sat on the table in front of her. Ethan watched as she did so, eyes narrowing at the darkened spots on her wrist. "She's a former ranger, too."

"Yeah, I guess," Conner said.

He drummed his fingertips atop the table, only muffled by the napkin that had been placed on his lap as soon as they arrived at the restaurant. Ethan leaned back to look at the sign above them. _Ernie's._ The place used to be a Youth Center; Bailey explained when she called the rangers to say she wanted to show them some of the sights.

Then it had turned to Adelle's Surf Spot for a short while before turning back to Ernie's after the original owner had passed. Now it was a large and very successful restaurant. He, Kira, and Conner sat in the patio section as Bailey suggested, far away from anyone who could overhear their conversation.

"We should've brought Trent with us, too," Ethan said.

"Well, he did say he wanted to stay back in the Power Chamber in case things went wrong," Kira said. Then she grimaced, almost as if she had made a mistake. "But if he's going to be part of the team we shouldn't leave him behind, right?"

The corners of Conner's lips turned up. "You miss him already?"

Kira glared back at him. "Shut up! I'm just saying if we're all going to be a team then we need to act like it and not leave anyone out."

"And what? Have him suddenly decide he wants to take us out?"

Ethan shook his head. "You don't know that's what he'd do."

"I don't?" Conner's eyebrows rose and he leaned back in his seat. He crossed his arms. "I may not be a computer nerd but I know a pattern when I see one. He already said he has no control over his powers. He could decide he wants to turn around and kill us the first chance he gets."

"You heard what Dr. O and the others said," Kira insisted. She pressed her lips firmly together. "We need Trent to stop Mesogog."

"We've been holding off on our own before we knew Trent," Conner pointed out.

"Yeah, barely," Kira said. She slapped Ethan on the arm. "Help me out, here!"

"Dr. O and Jason just explained why you need to accept him as part of the team, dude," Ethan pointed out. "What makes you so worried about him now? Is it that while they go up into space we're going to be the only ones down here?" Conner glared at him but didn't respond. "We've gone through a lot of things already and lately it's getting harder. We need Trent there and you know it."

"Yeah, maybe."

The two fell silent.

Ethan looked back and forth between the two. It took him a couple of seconds to figure it out, what would make them become so bloodthirsty when fighting with each other but then mutually coming to a stop as if they lost steam. And the way they continued to look at each other while trying to stay mad despite their hardened expressions already starting to fade.

Then Ethan smiled.

He understood now.

They liked each other and they liked each other a _lot._ Actually, for someone so smart he wondered how he wasn't able to figure out that they did like each other. It should've been obvious right from the very beginning. Actually, it was. Conner rarely used the name 'babe' for anyone, even if he did like her. At least from what he noticed.

 _And he calls me a computer nerd,_ Ethan thought with a smile. He rested his chin in his hands as he looked back and forth between the two.

"What are you smiling about, mate?" Bailey asked. Her eyebrows came together as she walked over to the table. A tall, brunette teen followed along behind her, holding the same expression on his face. As she spoke, Conner and Kira both jumped and looked away from each other.

"Nothing, I just think that Angel Grove has a really cool retro, happy feel t it," Ethan said quickly. "I feel like everyone's really happy here."

"Oh, you have no idea," Bailey remarked. "Sometimes I thought I was in a movie with how happy and friendly people are here." She smiled and took a step to the side, motioning to the guy standing next to her. "Fred, these are my friends Conner, Kira, and Ethan. Guys this is…this is my…"she paused, looking up at him again then simply said, "This is my Fred."

"Hi, it's nice to meet you," Fred said, moving to take one of the two empty seats at the table.

"Nice to meet you," Kira replied. She turned in her seat, pointedly shooting a look to Conner. "Bailey hasn't really talked about you much."

The Purple Ranger shrugged. "Not much to say."

"Whatever." Fred jostled her on the arm. He shook his head. "Well, I've been traveling the world with my dad for a while. And then I've been working hard on my studies. I got accepted into college early and went straight into doing that. But I've lived in Angel Grove for most of my life so if that ever came up in conversation…"

"Since Mr. and Mrs. Oliver I don't talk about it much," Bailey said quickly. He nodded. "But he was the first friend I made when I got to Angel Grove. We became friends really fast, mostly through our science classes and clubs."

"You don't look much like a science nerd," Conner said.

Kira slapped herself on the forehead.

"Why? Do you feel threatened?" Ethan shot back. Bailey made a strange noise as she flipped open her menu and made a show of looking at it. Conner glared back at Ethan and looked through his own menu. _Okay, this is getting interesting,_ Ethan thought. "Or is there a certain way we're all supposed to look?"

"No," Conner tried to defend himself. "I was just saying that…that."

"I think we get it Conner," Kira interrupted. "You judge based on appearances."

"Why do I feel like I just started a fight?" Fred asked. He held up his hands. "I always liked science but I always enjoyed martial arts a little more. Actually, Tommy was the one who taught me martial arts after Bailey talked me into taking his class with her. Of course with all of those monsters that came around, the training came in handy."

"So you…?" Kira started. Then she trailed off, unsure of how to continued the conversation if she were wrong.

Bailey saved her. "He's not a ranger but he worked closely with us for a long time. He and I worked in the Command Center together before I became a ranger and then gave my powers up."

"So you must know a lot in how powers work and stuff, right?" Kira asked. "I don't know if you can help but there's this guy named Trent. He's a White Ranger but…he can't control his powers over his Dino Gem."

"Well, from what we've seen it's probably just the influx of power that he can't control," Fred said.

"Yeah, I reckon the problem is that he turns _evil_ when he uses it," Bailey said.

Fred grimaced. "Oh. Okay, that's different."

"Any ideas?" Kira asked.

"Well, it reminds me of Bay's Ankylosaurus powers," Fred said again. "There was the chance that whomever got it would receive the power that came with it. Good or evil. But Bay was the one to get to it first. So there has to be something that's making it so that it turns it evil. Do you know where the gem was found?"

"It wasn't with ours when we got them," Conner explained. He ran a hand through his hair. "We got ours directly from Dr. O. And then Bay and Av got theirs from dino-eggs they picked up."

"In that case it sounds to me like it hasn't been purified."

Ethan sat up straight. "Purified?" He repeated. _That's it!_ Every single one of the gems they had gotten was pure in a way. Tommy and Hayley had to have had make sure they were safe for anyone to bond to them because it wasn't guaranteed it'd be us. Then the ones that were gotten from the Cephalosaurus and Ankylosaurus zords the gems came with those before Mesogog or anyone else could get their hands on them." Ethan spread his hands. "We need to figure out where Trent got his Dino Gem."

"Thanks for the tip!" Rito's voice came from behind them. Ethan whipped around to find Rito and a horde of putties standing behind him. "Now we'll get along to destroying you."

Fred lifted an eyebrow. "They haven't figured out they won't win, yet?"

"Welcome to our life," Kira said.

"You guys ready?" Conner asked.

"Ready!" Kira, Ethan, and Bailey replied.

The bracelets on their wrists turned into their morphers. At the same time they pressed their fingers to it where a light sound chimed. Then all four cried, "Dino Thunder, Power up! Ha!"

"Tyranno!"

"Ptera!"

"Tricera!"

"Cephala!"

"Dino Power!"

The four rangers charged into battle with Fred trailing behind them.

* * *

 **A/N:** And now the rangers are headed off to Eltar! Things are coming along and more characters are showing up, soon. There will be some spoilers for the Bailey series as it goes on.

Also, I started a new power-free story called _Powerless_ where the MMPR rangers are stuck in school with an active shooter without access to their powers. So, _please_ check it out and let me know what you think.

Thanks to **zombie-hunt, A.J. Grey, Adela, ToxicWednesday, SpecialK92, Ashley, brankel1, LadyKeren, lizziestrong, and TerraHart** for reviewing.

Please remember to review; if you have anything to comment about, anything to mention, or anything to say, I would love to hear it and it motivates me to write more. I respond to every review I get even if it's anonymous.

I'm available to reach by PM here, on my twitter account AvalonAvenue and my tumblr AvalonBayBlog.

 **~Av**


	36. Chapter 36: Up, Up and Away (1)

**Chapter 36**

 _Up, Up and Away  
_

* * *

"Cephala Club!" Bailey summoned her club and charged towards Rito. He lifted his sword and blocked Bailey's attack and the two immediately went at it. Every slash, slice, and advancement they made the other would quickly block.

"Hold still you purple booger!" Rito shouted.

Bailey grinned beneath her helmet as she landed from a pushback on her knee. "Okay? How's this?" She lifted her weapon. "Cephala Club! Canon mode!" With a few twists of her wrist, she shifted her weapon into a high-powered canon and pointed it at Rito. "Fire!" a purple and white blast shot from the face of her cannon and towards Rito.

Rito lifted his sword and knocked the blast aside. He tilted is head back and roared with laughter. "Ha ha ha! You can't think something like that'll stop me!" He lifted his hand to his face and shot red energy towards Bailey. She dodge rolled out of the way and came to a stop just as Rito started up a new attack. He brought his hand to his chest where the area behind his hand started to glow a swirling black and gray.

The mixture continued until Rito shot out his hand towards her. The black-gray cloud formed the shape of a skull and cross bones before shooting forward and wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her sides. It was then followed by an even larger skull and cross bones that surrounded her and chomped down. Bailey cried out in pain as the dark energy swirled around her, knocking her to the ground.

"Hiya!" Conner leapt into the air and brought his Tyranno Staff down to strike putties that encircled around him. Then he pivoted on his foot and struck another one in the chest. It crumbled and fell apart almost immediately. He leapt up and started to systematically take down the putties that were around him. There were enough coming time and time again to keep them busy and it didn't seem like it was going to end anytime soon.

Kira and Ethan had the same issues. No matter how many putties they took down, there was always another one that would come up in its place. Then two, then three, then four. There were so many putties that the ones the circle that came around them would push in further and further. The googling sounds the putties made became louder and louder as the seconds passed. Ethan pressed his back against Kira's and turned his head to speak to her, nearly shouting over the sound of the putties.

"I think they're starting to get a little bit too loud!" He yelled.

"I think so, too," Kira yelled back. She sucked in a deep breath and Ethan crouched down, pressing his hands over his ears. Then Kira blasted out a pterra scream, knocking down the putties that came within arm's reach of them. Some were knocked over onto their backs where they flailed around, trying to get back up, others were hit directly in their Z-plates, knocking them down and out. She continued to scream until she had to take a breath, ceasing the area around them.

"Geez, I hope I'm never the guy that pisses you off like that," Fred commented, after bringing his hands from his ears.

Ethan then started to laugh, making Kira whip her head towards him. "Keep your mind on the fight, Ethan! We don't have time for this!"

"Sorry, sorry." Ethan held up his hands and summoned his Tricera shield, getting back into the fight once more.

Fred leapt up onto a nearby table and swung his legs, striking putties in the face. Then he grabbed plates and flung them towards the putties like Frisbees, striking them in the face, chest, and neck, knocking them out of the way. Then he grabbed onto cutlery and spun them around in his fingers a few times, much like ninja stars, and flung them directly into the z-plates of putties' chests. He smirked as they fell to the ground and scrambled to get away before breaking apart. Then he jumped off the table and hurried over to Bailey, who pushed herself back to her feet.

"You okay?" He asked her.

"It'll take a lot more than that to take me down," she replied.

"Yeah, let's take him on!" Fred agreed.

The two fell into mimicking fighting stances while Rito laughed uproariously. Then an incredibly evil gleam came to his skeletal face. A deep, growl came from his lips. "I was destroyed once before; I'm not going to go again!" With that, he started to change. His bones became spikier and a dark hue encompassed him. Bailey let out a curse under her breath as she watched Rito's transformation. He was turning into a new, skeletal creature, very similar to a dinosaur skeleton that Avalon had told her about when she and the others were on Phaedos.

"This isn't good," she murmured.

"You're telling me," Fred replied. He let out a low chuckle. "Kind of kicking myself for not staying to get Av's Turbo powers."

Bailey laughed back. But her laugh was as humorless as Fred's was. She was starting to feel a little scared, actually. Not because of Rito, but because of the other monsters that were around as well and how they would be the only ones who were the defenders of the cities to said monsters while the others were traveling to get their powers back.

"What are we going to do?" Kira asked.

"We'll have to take down these putties then we can take down Rito," Conner declared. "Let's combine our weapons."

"Right!" Kira and Ethan agreed.

Rito stopped transforming and a grotesque skeletal monster stood in his place. His voice was low, more dangerous, more guttural as he said, "Why don't you try _me_ on for size!?" At that, Bailey and Fred raced forward and flipped over Rito's head at the same time. Then they turned and started to attack him again, working on a unified front; one of them would attack, get Rito's attention, then the other would attack, turning his attention the other way. It worked for a while, but then Rito brought his hands into his chest and sent out a wave of energy that knocked Bailey and Fred away from him. But it wasn't a normal blast of energy, pieces of his skeleton shot out as well.

Fred cried out in pain as the bone pieces sliced at his skin, combined with the scrapes he received when falling to the ground. Bailey, with more protection of her suit, screeched when each strike against her suit jolted her body around, almost like electric shocks were moving through her. She knew it was parts of the power of her suit failing, she had felt it time and time again while in battle but this was worse than ever.

Rito was stronger than he had been the last time they had faced off. That was clear now. If he was that bad, then that meant the others had to be even stronger than he was. This wasn't going to be a good fight and the others needed to get their powers back soon if they were to even stand a chance.

Conner, Kira, and Ethan quickly put their weapons together. "Z-Rex Blaster!" They shouted in unison. "Ready! Fire!" They held onto the Z-Rex Blaster as tightly as they could, pulling the weapon around in an arc to take out all of the putties around them. Once the putties were defeated, they turned the weapon onto Rito. "Fire!" They cried again.

Another blast shot out towards Rito. It struck him head on but it hardly made him flinch. Instead, Rito turned and a beam of energy came from his sword. Kira and Ethan were immediately hit by the blast but Conner rolled out of the way. "Guys!" he cried, watching them writhe on the ground.

"Just you left red ranger," Rito growled. "You should've made this more difficult, it was too easy!"

"We'll see about that," Conner cried. He brought up his hands. "Super Dino Mode!" A surge of power moved through his suit as he entered Super Dino Mode and held up his Tyranno Staff tightly in his hand. He spun it around a few times and pointed it right at Rito. "Come on!"

Rito started lumbering towards Conner, the red ranger holding his ground, watching as the monster lumbered towards him. There was a sudden shot of white light, back and forth over Rito's body. Rito screamed as he jerked back and forth by the hits. Then he stumbled backwards and the bright light came to a stop as the White Dino Ranger landed beside him.

Conner watched, warily. "Trent?"

Trent nodded back to him.

Despite his earlier misgivings, Conner smiled under his helmet. Whether or not Trent had a hold of his powers, he had a hold of them now and that's what was the most important. Trent summoned his weapon, the Drago Sword.

"One extra ranger isn't going to help you!" Rito declared.

"We'll see about that!" Trent pulled out his sword and quickly spun it in the air. Laser arrows appeared and shot towards Rito, almost stopping him in his path. That was all that Conner needed. Using his enhanced speed, her raced forward and around Rito, slashing with the Tyranno Staff as many times as he could get in, with Trent running along behind him.

Rito's body spastically jerked back and forth with the force of each attack by the two rangers. Finally, Conner and Ethan struck hard with final blows of energy from their weapons, making Rito fall back to the ground. His monstrous form deflected back to its original form with Rito rolling over and over, grabbing onto his head when he came to a stop.

"Oh, Mesogog isn't going to like this," he said.

"Come quietly and you'll be okay," Trent said as he and Conner slowly walked towards him.

"If not, prepare to be destroyed," Conner said.

Rito glared at them. "I don't think so," he said and disappeared in a burst of flames and his body breaking apart. Conner growled when he got away, shaking his head. He powered down and turned back to Trent, who powered down as well, falling to his knees. His face was ashen and he dry heaved. Conner went over and placed a hand on his shoulder, remembering what Kira said about him having lupus. He felt more respect for Trent than he had felt before. It took someone really strong to have to deal with that every time they morphed, let alone try to control himself.

Conner walked over and placed his hand on Trent's shoulder, squeezing it. Trent looked up took Conner's outstretched hand, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet. He nodded again and Conner nodded back before turning to his friends as they demorphed.

"Is everyone okay?" Conner asked, hurrying over to them. He grabbed Kira's wrist and gently helped her to her feet. Kira leaned heavily against him and looked up at him with an expression of thanks. He smiled a small smile, making her smile back. And that was it, all was forgiven from their fight earlier.

"I'm okay, too, if you're all dying to know," Ethan said sarcastically as he got to his feet.

"Fred? Fred!" Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Trent turned their attention to Bailey, who had de-morphed and now held Fred in her arms. Blood pooled around him and stained the ground, but his eyes were open, though it was hard for him to respond. Conner's eyebrows came together as they walked closer to them. "Hey, don't go to sleep."

"Why would I got to sleep after something like that?" Fred managed to joke. He tried to sit up and winced, falling back down. "Ouch."

"Don't get up, man, you really took a beating," Ethan said, holding his hand on his shoulder.

Fred gave a weak smile. "I've felt worse from one of her punches," he said, motioning to Bailey.

Bailey smiled back. "You wouldn't like them now; it's one of my new powers."

"I'll take your word for it."

"Let's get him back to the Command Center," Conner suggested. He ran a hand through his hair. "There's a place there we can check to make sure he's alright, right?" Bailey nodded. She reached up her hand and pressed it to her communicator, the two teleporting in a blast of purple light.

Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Trent followed them. Once arriving at the Command Center, Bailey brought Fred over to the medical center with the others following them. She carefully laid him down on an examining table and looked over at the equipment around her with a hand to her chin. "I reckon I should've paid more attention to what Billy had used when we came back from a fight."

"Has Rito ever done something like that before?" Conner asked, watching as she picked up syringes and bottles filled with different compounds. "Transform like that?"

Bailey shook her head. "No, I've never seen him able to do that before."

"It must've been Mesogog's influence then," Kira said. She rubbed the back of her neck, wincing as she rolled her neck. It was then Conner realized how sore he was, too. Rito really put a number on them this time. "He said something about him not being happy turning back."

"Let's be honest, Mesogog wouldn't be happy with anyone," Ethan said. "Let alone having us go off to Angel Grove to take down the monsters he sent here."

"That's true."

"What does that mean for the others then? Goldar and the Machine Empire?" Trent asked.

"It means we're in a lot of trouble," Bailey said matter of fact. She sighed, blowing her hair out of her face. "A very significant oversight, if I do say so myself." She picked up a bowl and a cloth, setting them beside Fred. Dipping the cloth in the bowl, she wrung it out then looked over at Fred. "This is going to hurt."

"Okay."

Fred steeled himself when Bailey pressed the cloth to the gashes in his skin and he hissed, doing all he could not to scream. Conner winced. He was used to the pressures and pain from numerous soccer practices and games, especially working them in around monster fights. The only different being that with the ranger powers it was harder for him to get as hurt as he used to. It'd take a lot of force to render him with bruises or sprains. It must've killed, considering Fred didn't have any powers to help him at all.

Bailey continued to move around Fred's arms and legs, to clean up the cuts. Then she moved to the blood that was starting to dry on his shirt. Without hesitation, she grabbed the bottom of his shirt and lifted it up. Kira and Ethan winced at the gash on his stomach. It didn't seem too deep or else he would've been bleeding heavier, organs at risk.

Fred smiled at her, or maybe it was a grimace; Conner wasn't exactly sure. "If you wanted me to take my shirt off, you should've asked."

"Normally I wouldn't have to, mate."

The two shared a smile and Conner's eyebrows came together even further. Clearly they had some history with each other. It was bordering on romantic, but Bailey had never mentioned having a boyfriend when she had kissed him. Then again, he had never really told her about his history with Kira either. It was strange, how alike the two of them were and how easy it would've been if they had just gotten together. But…his heart wanted what it wanted.

 _Whoa, there Conner,_ he thought to himself. _You've been knocked around a couple of times, don't jump to conclusions now._

"How long do you think he'll be out?" Trent asked. His face paled even further as he turned away from Fred, as if even the sight of the cuts was making it worse for him. "Those look pretty nasty."

"Not long with these," Bailey said, remarking to the medicine around her. "Though that was on people with ranger abilities, I don't know if Billy ever used it on himself when he was testing them out. But…I reckon you lot know this is going to be a lot worse when the others head off to Eltar. We'll be the only line of defense back here."

"We can do it," Conner said firmly. "We'll have to."

"You're right." Bailey finished setting Fred up with his medication and smiled down at him. "You should be okay after a couple of hours. Just get some rest, yeah?" He nodded and she leaned in, giving him a kiss on the cheek before leaving the medical room. The group walked out to the main area of the Command Center.

Conner placed his hands on his hips, looking around. His eyes roved over the control panels and all of the equipment before stopping on the wall of suits. The very same suits that the others had used years before to take down the monsters. Conner pressed his lips together. He had heard stories from the former rangers of their past fights and now they had never given up. They couldn't give up now, either. He wouldn't let them. There were too many people relying on them.

"What do we do now?" Trent asked.

" _The same thing we do every_ night, Pinky," Ethan joked. "Try to take over the world." Kira and Bailey laughed. That gave Conner a new sense of purpose, to know that no matter how many times they were defeated they'd get back up and start all over again.

"First thing we have to figure out, is whether or not Trent's powers are going to mess him up again," Conner pointed out.

Bailey nodded. She turned to Trent, "We figured out that the reason your powers are taking you over every time you morph, is because your gem isn't pure. Ours were all pure when we found them, but there's something with yours that's not."

"So you're saying my Dino Gem was already evil?" Trent asked.

"That's our theory," Conner pointed out. "We don't know for sure." He pressed his palms together. " _Where_ did you find your Dino Gem?"

Trent thought for a moment. He brought his hands into his hair and closed his eyes as he thought about it. "Um…"Finally, he opened his eyes and waved his hand. "Um, yeah, I was talking to my dad about something. We got into a fight and he left the room. Then, suddenly, this portal thing opened up—"

"—An Invisiportal?" Kira asked.

Trent nodded. "Yeah, one of those. It opened up and the next thing I know, I was in this…lab. There were beakers and bottles filled with different things all over the place. There were so many machines I'd never seen before."

"Did it have, like, a green hue over everything?" Kira asked. Trent nodded. "Mesogog's lair. That's where the Invisiportal took you."

Conner and Ethan exchanged glances. Ethan looked a little skeptical but still, what other place had they been that would've made sense to Trent's description. They had been there once before when going to save Zack, Tommy, Avalon, and Bailey after they had been kidnapped and held by Elsa and Zeltrax. It had to be the same place.

"Right and I just saw it sitting on a bench, grabbed it, and…I felt this insurmountable amount of power." Trent started to smile at the memory. "It made me feel like my lupus wasn't something that I had to deal with. All of that went away. But as soon as I dimorph it comes back."

"There was no one else there when you got the Gem?" Bailey pressed.

"No. Just me."

Bailey took in a deep breath She played with her fingers, as she always did when deep in thought. She looked over at Conner and he realized she had the same expression on her face that had to be on his and that they were probably thinking the same thing.

Trent was transported to Mesogog's lair through a portal in his father's office.

Did that mean…Anton Mercer was Mesogog?

* * *

"All systems are go. As you requested, this is what will give you the ability to get to Eltar," General Norquist said. He turned from the control panel he stood at and regarded the rangers, past and present. Jason, Kimberly, Zack, Trini, Billy, Rocky, Adam, Aisha, Tanya, Kat, Tommy, and Avalon stood in front of him, ready for what was to transport them out of NASADA.

Conner, Kira, Ethan, Trent, and Bailey stood behind, watching and waiting. General Norquist walked over to Billy, holding out his hand. Billy smiled and grabbed it, shaking his hand firmly. "It was nice to be in contact with you again, Mr. Cranston. It's always good to hear from you."

"Even better to know you can help," Billy said honestly. He dropped General Norquist's hand and took a step back, motioning to his friends. "We didn't think there was ever a way for you to get any of the rest of us up into space again after the Turbo rangers left."

"Yes, well, I had a lot of government interference with that one," General Norquist said. He crossed his arms, clearing his throat. "After sending the first set of rangers up, I've had a lot of conversations that had threatened to shut down our program out here in California."

"But you were helping rangers," Kira protested.

"Back then, the power rangers weren't consistently known as people who were helping," Jason pointed out. "There were so many times that there was unnecessary damage to the city that we were blamed for."

"Not to mention how many times schools had to close, how much construction had to be done, how many people moved away," Rocky added. He shook his head. "I've lived in Angel Grove since I moved here from Stone Canyon and I've seen the climate about the rangers change time and time again." He shrugged. "That's what happens with things like this."

"What does that mean for Reefside then?" Ethan asked.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Tommy said. "Right now, we need to worry about this and getting up there." He motioned towards the ceiling. He thought for a moment then spoke to General Norquist with, "Is it a similar means of how I got to Eltar the last time?"

General Norquist nodded. "Yes, very similar, but slightly different. The last time you were able to get to Eltar had been due to Zordon and Alpha's manipulations to get you there. As they're no longer with us at this point, I had to come up with a different form to get you up to Eltar."

"It's not going to hurt is it?" Adam joked. Tanya elbowed him on the arm.

"No, it won't hurt."

"He says that now, but next thing we know we get there missing a limb," Avalon said. She crossed her arms and studied the man for a long moment. There was nothing about him that they couldn't trust, she could see that. Still, this was a big thing. They didn't know if their mission was going to work but they had to take that risk anyway.

"Please, I expect a comment like that from Rocky," Kat said. Her voice was light and conversational but everyone could see the concern in her face. They were all worried.

Trini seemed to have noticed because she took a step forward and turned to address everyone. "We have to trust that these guys can hold their own while we're gone. Their fight against Rito was hard, but we've gone against things that were even harder and came out the other side tougher. Just have faith they can hold things together while we're gone and they can do it."

"We won't let you down!" Conner declared.

"Right, you'll get back and see how we kicked all of their butts," Bailey agreed.

"Let's go then," Zack declared. "We're not going to get anything done just by standing around here!"

General Norquist nodded. "I'll get things started."

While he did that, Tommy motioned to Conner and the red ranger went to his side. "While we're gone, you're going to be the only one in charge," he reminded him. "We won't be able to get in contact with you at all." Conner took on an expression of worry, running his hand through his hair. "Hey, you wouldn't be the red ranger if you couldn't do this. Right now you have to trust that you can too but…" Tommy glanced over at Kira for a moment. "Just make sure the rest of your team is right there with you, pay attention as things go on. When things get harder, not everyone will be able to deal with it the way you want. Got it?" Conner nodded. "Good. I know you can do this."

Conner nodded again and went back to his friends. Avalon eyed Tommy. "What was that about?" She asked.

"Something I noticed recently," Tommy replied. "But I'm not quite sure about it."

"What do you mean?"

Tommy licked his lips and lowered his voice, turning to his adoptive sister. "Just something I noticed with Kira lately," he said. "She hasn't been giving her all in fights, almost as if she's afraid of it. I first noticed when we were practicing back in Reefside, she reacted badly to stuff we were doing and has only gone downhill since then."

"By that you mean…?" Avalon trailed off as she got a good look at Tommy's face. Her eyebrows rose. "You can't mean what I think you mean, mate." He nodded. "Are you sure? You can't just accuse people of things like that."

"Honestly, Av, I think you'd be the one who would've figured it out before me."

"Why's that?"

"Because she reminds me of you when we first met. And it wasn't until later that you mentioned what Chase had been doing that it made sense."

Avalon started. Her eyes shifted back and forth as she thought about it. Then realized that Tommy was right. She ran a hand through her hair and shook her head. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed. She prided herself on being able to see things other people couldn't, having spent a lot of time people watching and surveying the area while in the Vipers. But something so obvious…little snaps of anger, the way she dressed, the way she rebelled…Avalon should've noticed Kira's problem a lot sooner.

"We'll deal with it when we get back," Tommy reassured her. "Right now we have to get going."

Avalon nodded.

"Please come stand in a circle," General Norquist called. The rangers all nodded and did as they were told. "I've tapped into the teleportation powers that you have exhibited throughout your tenure as rangers as the frequency of our communicators that allow you to teleport. With the help of Billy, of course. There should be enough power to get you to Eltar; I still have the initial coordinates from sending TJ's team up into space. However, once you're there we will not be able to be in contact and you may not find your way back." He looked them over. "Do you still want to do this?"

"Anything to help keep innocent people safe," Kimberly said.

The others nodded.

"Okay, I'll start the process."

The rangers then reached out and, much like when Alpha teleported them to Phaedos, they held hands and closed their eyes to focus on the power within them. General Norquist stood at the nearby control panel and went through the sequence that would tap into the frequency of the rangers' communicators. It took a couple of seconds where they all started to flash their colors before turning into energy completely and rose through the sky, shooting out of NASADA.

"May the power protect you," Bailey murmured.

The rangers noticed the humidity of Eltar as soon as they landed. "This is not good for my hair," Aisha said, patting at her short hair do. "I should've kept my braids going."

"Girl, I know the feeling," Tanya agreed.

"Tommy, do you recognize anything around here?" Kat ask, placing her hand on Tommy's shoulder. She waited as Tommy frowned and started to look around. He placed his hands on his hips before removing the white, short-sleeved button down shirt he was wearing so that he was in his black tank top and green cargo pants.

"Not yet, but we should get going," Tommy said.

"Which direction do you plan on walking in?" Zack asked. He lifted a finger. "I don't know about you, but none of us have been here and not having an initial direction to go into isn't going to help much."

There was a thudding sound and everyone turned to find Billy standing up from a couch, having just dropped down from a tree he had shimmied up. Dusting off his hands, Billy turned to his friends. Judging by the sun is shining behind us and the time of day, that means it'll set behind us. It'll set in the west. We want to head North."

"How do you know that's the best way?" Kimberly asked.

"I spent just as much time studying space at MIT than I did mythology," Billy explained modestly. He tilted his head in the direction they were to go. "It's that way."

"If he says so, then I reckon its right," Avalon said. "Let's go." She was the first to start walking in the direction with the others following her. As they wandered along the path, the humidity seemed to increase, making sweat pour off their skin as they went.

"If we don't find it soon at least we won't have to worry about not being in shape," Adam said. He brought up a hand and wiped his forehead. "We'll just sweat out all of the extra weight we've been carrying."

"Whose carrying extra weight?" Rocky asked.

"We'll, we're not as young as we used to be."

"Speak for yourself, Adam," Kimberly warned him.

"Yeah, you don't want to find yourself on the bad end of the wrath of six women," Zack joked. He grabbed Adam by the shoulders and gently jostled him. "Trust me, my man. I've made that mistake one too many times. And we all know they can pack a punch. So you'd be screwed."

"That's right!" Kat agreed.

The group laughed to themselves before falling into silence once more. Avalon brought her long, thick hair back into a ponytail and fanned at the back of her neck. "I should've cut my hair when I had the chance," she remarked. "It's bloody hot here."

"Eltar is closer to the sun than Earth," Billy remarked. "So the climate here isn't what we're used to."

"And you couldn't have told us that before?"

"I wasn't sure we could even get there, no matter the technological advancements that had been made over the years. So, no, I didn't mention it." Billy smirked at her. "But I'll be sure to make sure you're up to speed next time."

Avalon rolled her eyes. "Fuck off."

Billy chuckled.

Tommy and Jason, with their long, steady strides, made their way to the front of the group. So they were the first one that noticed the shadow whip overhead. They immediately came to a stop, immediately going into fighting stances. "You saw that?" Tommy asked, to be sure.

"Yeah, man, couldn't miss it," Jason said.

The two continued to look around. The shadow whipped over them again, this time capturing the attention of all of the rangers. They immediately moved into a circle so everyone had their back covered by another ranger and they could see in all directions.

"Keep on your toes, guys," Tommy said. "We all know how weird things can get."

The shadow continued to move around, moving closer until the rangers realized it was a bird encircling them. Not one that was big, but not one that was too tiny either. Aisha tilted her head back and shielded her face to see what it was. Then she pointed. "It's an owl!"

"An owl?" Kimberly asked. Her nose wrinkled. "I didn't think they'd have owls on other planets."

"Let alone ones that would be able to make it past all of the other creatures that live here," Rocky added.

"Wait." Tommy held up a hand and waited, watching as the owl slowly lowered itself to the ground. Then, he took a step back as it lifted its wings, shaking itself out. Then a wind picked up and a colorful light started to surround the owl. It glowed brighter and brighter until, in the owl's place, was a young woman who knelt on the ground.

It wasn't until she stood up, coming to her full height, that the rangers knew who it was.

"Dulcea," Avalon breathed.

* * *

 **A/N:** And I'm back! Ah, I missed writing about my girls and their friends. I will have this updated again son as well as _Powerless_ as I know you guys are waiting for that. Check out my recent updates to _Headstrong_ and _Beautiful Disaster_ as well as _Distraction_. Let me know what you think of the addition of Dulcea to help them out.

Thanks to **zombie-hunt, Adela, Ashley, lizziestrong ToxicWednesday, brankel1, LadyKeren, and TerraHart** for reviewing.

Thanks to **xoxMountainGirlxox** for the idea for Trent having lupus.

Please remember to review; if you have anything to comment about, anything to mention, or anything to say, I would love to hear it and it motivates me to write more. I respond to every review I get even if it's anonymous. I'm available to reach by PM here, on my twitter account AvalonAvenue and my tumblr AvalonBayBlog.

 **~Av**


	37. Chapter 37: Ranger Returns (2)

**Chapter 37**

 _Ranger Returns (1)_

* * *

Dulcea smiled down at all of the rangers that stood before her.

She lifted her hand up from beneath her cloak, the soft material gliding down her arm, to reveal her ever-present staff in hand. Her staff, however, had upgraded as well as the armor that covered her body. Her chest place extended down to her stomach, with a white fabric covering the exposed parts of her legs from the bottom half of her suit. The fabric tightened down her leg as it went, stopping halfway down her calf.

Her staff, which formerly only held a single gold accent underneath the bulb strategically placed at the top now twisted and turned with fleur-de-lis and ancient alien scripture festooned around the handle of the staff as well. It expertly matched the golden accents on her chest plate and the band that rested on her upper arms.

"Rangers," she said in a dulcet tone. Poles apart from the hostile and dangerous manner from their first meeting. "It's great to see you again."

"It's good to see you, too, Dulcea," Kimberly said with a broad smile. She motioned to her friends. "I know you haven't met, but these are some other rangers that have taken on the mantle after some of us left." She motioned to Kat and Tanya. Then she turned her attention to Jason, Trini, and Zack. "And these are from the first team of rangers. Guys, this is Dulcea."

"She was an ally in our quest to save Zordon from Ivan Ooze," Tommy explained.

Jason, Zack, Trini, Kat, and Tanya all waved and their greetings to Dulcea. Dulcea then nodded before lowering herself down in a deep curtsey, moving her free hand to her chest. "It is nice to meet all of you. Though I can't image you have come here to Eltar for a good reason."

"We're here to see if there is a chance to restore our past ranger powers," Billy explained. He motioned to Tommy with his head. "Through the help of NASADA on our Earth, Tommy was able to come to Etlar and restore the Mighty Morphin' and Zeo powers, as well as returned the Red Lightning Turbo Zord to another ranger, TJ Johnson."

"Because of that I've been able to morph again," Jason explained. "Back into the Mighty Morphin' red ranger. But the others that have tried to morph in that way, it's caused them insurmountable pain."

"I tried to morph once, and it nearly destroyed me," Adam agreed. "But I had to do it."

Dulcea nodded. "To save the innocent. That is a key quality that each of you have, that have determined you to be rangers. But…" Dulcea frowned a little, looking over the ranger's faces. "it appears that you've forgotten your connections with your animals spirits along the way. Have you turned your back on those teachings."

Tommy, Kimberly, Billy, Avalon, Rocky, Adam, Aisha, and Kat all exchanged glances. Not quite of guilt but of realization that things over the years had made it more difficult for them to rely on those instincts. How was one to focus on their animal spirit when tragedies and harder responsibilities of life were getting in the way? They were spoken to from time to time but…once being a ranger ended…it was it didn't mean the past memories ended.

From losing teammates to suffering from PTSD there were enough problems they had to figure out. Even Jason and Trini, who were the ones who practiced the idea of a sound mind, body, and spirit through numerous ventures of their lives knew they were also ones guilty of not following their practices once time ran away from them.

"We're sorry, Dulcea," Avalon apologized. "But things have gone pretty aggro lately. And…honestly…it's getting worse. We're up against this bloke called Mesogog and he's brought back our past enemies. But along with Mesogog's power, they've become too strong for the current team of rangers that are trying to stop him."

Dulcea glanced down at hers and Tommy's wrists, smiling when she saw the morphers sitting there. "I see you haven't been able to completely move on." She took a step back, looking around the area. "Come with me," she said. "There are many things we need to speak about."

She turned on her heel and stared to traverse through the dense foliage, pushing it away with ease. The rangers dutifully followed after her.

If there was any ally they trusted more than Zordon, it was Dulcea.

* * *

It had been an hour of back and forth conversation between the rangers as they tried to theorize how Anton could be Mesogog. Trent seemed like he was starting to believe it, but there was still skepticism on his face and in his voice.

He leaned back against the counter behind him. "I just can't imagine my dad, Anton Mercer, having anything to do with Mesogog's appearance in Reefside." Trent asked. He shook his head, looking over his friends. "It's crazy. He hasn't acted differently at all."

Bailey spread her arms. "If you want to be completely technical, mate, _all_ of this is crazy." She lifted an eyebrow. "And we've seen multiple people we love and care about turn out to be willingly and unwillingly have issues with being evil. So it's not that far off of a guess." She shrugged. "Sorry."

"No way." Trent shook his head. "That makes no sense. _Why_ would my dad be Mesogog?"

Kira pressed her lips together. "We're not saying he _is_ ," she said quietly. "But, you know…it can't be a coincidence that you found an Invisiportal in his office."

"You guys have said so yourselves, Invisiportals open everywhere around this city," Trent said. "There've been enough people around Reefside that have spoken out about it." He rolled his eyes. "Even Cassidy and Devin have started to get interviews from people about their experiences with Invisiportals. One day they're walking through the park and the next minute they're in the waterside district, dizzy and confused."

"Yeah, those Invisiportals can be a real doozy," Ethan agreed. He gently shook his head and said to Kira, "I can't imagine what it was like when you were flung back and forth through them."

"Let me just say, I don't ever need to try car surfing ever again," Kira joked.

"We have to follow every lead we get," Conner explained to Trent. "Otherwise, I'm not sure how we'd be able to move forward." He sucked in a deep breath. "Right now, our responsibility is to keep Angel Grove safe while the others get their powers back. But while we're here we can make a plan. Maybe a way to trap Anton into admitting he's Mesogog."

"If he knows," Bailey said. All eyes turned her way. "I'm just saying…what motive would Mercer have to be Mesogog?" She held up her hand. "Okay, it's a strange coincidence that things they were working on—combining dinosaur DNA and technology—was released as the Tyrannodrones into Reefside. Tommy is trying to stop it, what's Mercer been doing?"

Trent pursed his lips defensively. "My dad has been trying to move on from his past in that aspect," he said. "There were enough people hurt and killed in that island explosion. All because he had wanted a place to have their scientific experiments to be safeguarded from others and to be kept secret. I think he already has that on his conscience enough without having to have Mesogog added on top of it."

Ethan let out a long breath. This wasn't working. Trent obviously wasn't going to listen to what they had to say. It was hard enough to think Trent was evil when it was his infected Dino Gem causing the problem. But to hear that his father was trying to kill them, too? No, that was something he clearly couldn't bear.

Kira suddenly let out a startled scream. "Look out!" Causing them all to move at the same time. Trent whirled around and backed away as an Invisiportal opened up behind them with a claw reaching out towards them. The rangers watched as the portal continued to open further and further, the hand slowly revealing the arm of a body. "Whoa, what's happening?"

"I thought Invisiportals were only able to be opened in Reefside," Bailey said.

"I guess not," Conner replied. He lifted his fists in a fighting stance, ready to take on whatever was coin to face them. He felt every sense in his body ramp up to eleven, the way it always did when he was about to use his enhanced speed. Everything slowed down around him.

It was the most horrific experience in his life, watching as Mesogog slowly, very slowly, announced his presence in Angel Grove through the Invisiportal. First, his claw and arm stuck out towards them, then one of his clawed feet. His scaly body slithered out; black cloaks gently blowing from the energy wind the Invisiportal. Then his head poked out, large, yellow eyes shifting back and forth around the Command Center. The rest of his head came out, the scales on his face shining under the glowing lights of the computers and fluorescent lights.

The Invisiportal closed and he stood inside the Command Center, hands resting behind his back. Conner then ran forward with his enhanced speed, ready to take him down. But just as he lifted his foot to kick him upside the head, Mesogog turned and slammed a clawed fist into Conner's stomach.

"Oof!" Doubling over in surprise, Conner gave Mesogog the opening to strike him in the face.

As he lifted off his feet, spinning to the side, everything shifted back into real time. Conner slammed to the ground and Mesogog turned to take on the rest of the rangers. Kira did a quick Ptera Scream, making Mesogog back away, wincing under the screeches that filled the room, echoing and amplifying from the walls around them. Mesogog stood up and sent a red beam from his forehead to Kira.

Kira's Ptera Scream ended with her screams of pain as she grabbed the sides of her head. She collapsed to her knees, her screams turning high-pitched and frenzied.

"Kira!" Conner called.

Ethan knocked Kira out of the way, effectively breaking the connection of the pain blast Mesogog tortured her with. He launched himself to Mesogog and the two became locked in hand to hand combat. Blasts of blue light flashed around as Mesogog's claws connected with Ethan's toughened skin. They continued their back and forth for a few moments before Mesogog grabbed Ethan by the front of his shirt and pulled him forward.

Ethan gulped, eyes widening as he got an up close and personal view of Mesogog's lizard eyes. He was hypnotized with fear, never having been this close to their enemy before. To them Mesogog was the ultimate goal of what to defeat. Sort of like a boogeyman that you weren't sure was actually there but its presence was well known. The imagery more haunting than the reality. This time it was quite the opposite.

Reality was so much scarier.

Mesogog lifted Ethan into the air, continuing to hiss at him. "Stay out of my way!" He threw Ethan across the floor of the Power Chamber.

Bailey charged towards Mesogog once his attention was diverted and used her powers to punch him hard in the face. Mesogog fell to the floor. He turned and glared at Bailey before doing a kip-up back to his feet. In seconds he was in her face, the two blocking attacks that were sent their way, moving in what was similar to a choreographed dance as they did so. Each of Bailey's punches and kicks were enhanced with her strength power from the Cephala power, but Mesogog was still much stronger than her, overpowering her in seconds with a blast of his pain vision and a strong punch in the stomach.

Bailey crashed into the wall of the Power Chamber and Mesogog turned to Trent, who was frozen in fear. He saw his friends being thrashed about but couldn't do more than watch. How was this man this…monster…able to cause so much pain without any thought? And if it was something he could do so easily what would that mean if it really was his father? Could his father be so cruel as Mesogog?

"Traitor," Mesogog hissed, walking toward Trent. "You took my Gem…and yet you work with them." He pointed at the rangers who lay on the ground. They slowly worked their way back to their feet, stunned with the ease he managed to break them down.

 _Guys, you need to get back here soon,_ Bailey thought. She raised her eyes to the ceiling of the Power Chamber. _This guy means business, we need your help._

"You forget double crossing me," Mesogog continued. He slowly, menacingly started to walk in a circle around Trent. A predator stalking his prey. Much like he did with Elsa and Zeltrax and with the two, they cowered out of fear and respect for their master. Just as Trent was cowering now. He could barely look Mesogog in the eye as the monster continued to saunter around him. Trent glanced at him when he was out of view, but looked away the second Mesogog's eyes came back to train on him. "You forget ruining my plansssss."

"T-traitor?" Trent shook his head, fringe falling into his face. He was trembling with fear and anxiety. What was Mesogog going to do to him? If he was calm now, what would happen if he got angry? As it was, Mesogog reached out and gently scraped his claws against Trent's arm as he went around. The first scrape was nothing more than a tickle, a brush of the arm. The second was a little harder, a scratch. The third and fourth continuously progressed in viciousness until his skin was cut open, blood beading up at the surface.

And he continued to walk around him. Trent winced, his face flinching as he did so. Mesogog wasn't one to have emotions other than anger, wasn't one to speak louder than a hiss. And yet, Trent could see mirth flash through Mesogog's eyes at the inflicted pain.

"W-what are you talking about?" Trent managed to get out.

"Trent," Bailey wheezed. "Get away from him." Mesogog whipped around and sent a Psionic Brain-Blast to the rangers, making them groan and collapse to the ground once more, writhing in the most unimaginable pain.

Trent gasped and turned towards his friends. But Mesogog reached out and grasped Trent around the neck. He pressed a finger to Trent's Adam's Apple, right below a pulsing vein that throbbed with Trent's increased heartbeat. Sweat started to drip down Trent's forehead. Scritch, scritch, scritch. He could feel Mesogog's nail running over his skin.

Not much longer until his throat was ripped out.

"You can't be trusted," Mesogog said. He put his face close to Trent's and hissed. "And therefore, should be eliminated."Eyes watered, nostrils flared, and Trent tried his hardest not to allow his fear to completely take him over. What would it feel like when things finally ended? Would it be peaceful or painful? _Would anyone miss me?_ Trent wondered. _Those that aren't rangers…_

He had thought about death before. Not in a suicidal way but as a curious thought. There was no cure for lupus and when he received his diagnosis his mind would drift every now and then. How much time did he have left before there were too many complications for his body to fight? His kidneys were already bad but how long until they failed completely? What would his last day feel like? What did he _want_ to do for a last day, if he had a choice? But most importantly, he wondered what would happen to his father. They only had each other in life and without him his father would be alone.

There was nothing that would stop Anton from burying himself in his work if not going the complete opposite direction and giving up on life. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if something happened to him and it affected his father. If that meant that Mesogog was his father, could he fight against him?

"No, you're making a mistake," Trent wheezed.

"I do not make mistakes!" Mesogog lifted his claw and tapped it onto Trent's neck. There was a sharp sting of pain and Trent felt a single bead of sweat run down his throat, soaking into the collar of his white t-shirt.

Trent squeezed his eyes shut. There wasn't much left he could do, but if what the others were saying was true… "Dad," he wheezed. There was a brief moment of silence. "Dad, it's me." He swallowed hard. "It's Trent. It's your son."

Mesogog's eyes narrowed. "I have no son."

"Dad, if you're in there…" Trent sucked in a sharp breath. He opened his eyes and looked directly into Mesogog's. "I know you're in there. I'm your son. You're my father. I love you. And I don't want anything to happen to you. If you have to do this…just know that I'll be okay."

Mesogog continued to look at Trent, his eyes unwavering. Then a low groan came from Mesgog's throat, almost guttural. He let go of Trent and backed away, head starting to jerk back and forth. "No," he hissed. "Not now." He fell to the ground and violently thrashed around, as if trying to fight off something. Then there was a bright burst of light that made Trent shield his face, turning away.

Then the light faded and he, still trembling, turned back to where Mesogog lay. His eyes widened. No.

No.

It couldn't be.

Not true.

No way. Uh-uh.

And yet…it was true. Anton Mercer lay on the ground where Mesogog had just been. His hands were over his face, breathing heavily. As if the transformation had been especially painful. His skin was pale and his eyes worked to focus as the seconds passed. Then he lifted his head and looked up at Trent, looked around the Power Chamber, trying to figure out where he was.

"No way," Conner whispered.

"Where am I?" Anton whispered. "How'd I get here?" Finally, he looked over at Trent, who continued to gawk at him. There was a brief moment of silence then Anton's eyes narrowed in on the blood on Trent's neck and arms. "Trent?" He got to his feet and staggered over to Trent. Father and son grasped each other tightly. "Son. Son, are you alright?"

"Dad." Trent breathed. He held his father's elbows, holding him up as Anton collapsed against him. He shook his head, staring at his father. How could this man be Mesogog? "You mean…you're really…"

Anton looked his son in the eye, his expression slowly shifting of confusion to realization to shame. He looked away from Trent and his eyes zeroed in on Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Bailey. Watched as they slowly, very slowly, managed to make their way back to their feet. Looked at the bruises festooned on their arms and faces from his work on them. Anton brought a hand to his mouth. "No," he whispered.

Anton shook his head. "No, no. I'm…Trent, I'm sorry. I don't." He grasped onto Trent's shoulders, fingers digging into the skin. "I don't know what happened. I'm not—"

"—you're Mesogog," Conner said. His eyes narrowed. "You've been trying to destroy us."

"No!" Even Anton Mercer didn't raise his voice. Desperation crept into his tone, the shaking of his head turning even more frantic. "No, I would never do that. I'd never purposefully harm someone. You have to believe me. I…I don't have any control when Mesogog comes out."

"What do you mean?" Conner asked.

"First, let's get him a chair, yeah?" Bailey asked.

"Yeah, he needs to sit down." Kira looked around for a few moments before Bailey moved to do it. She walked over to a far wall and a holographic keypad came up. Bailey typed in a code and the wall opened to an inner room. "Wow, that really comes in handy," Kira remarked as Bailey disappeared and came back with an office chair. "We could use it in the lab."

"The lab is only so big, mate," Bailey said. "And if you think that's impressive, you should've seen our first Command Center in the desert."

"The desert?" Ethan repeated.

"I reckon it may as well be Area 51."

Anton sat down in the offered chair and rested his forehead on his fingertips. He stared at the ground in front of him, almost in a daze. His expression was blank as he looked at the ground. He took in a deep breath and expelled it with as much force. Then he sat up straight and started to explain, though only looked at Trent as he did so. "Mesogog and I…we may as well be two beings in one body. Though our body is shared."

"How'd it happen?" Bailey asked.

Conner folded his arms. "Yeah, how'd you turn into him?"

"You don't look like someone who has his entire lab blow up and want to get revenge on a bunch of teenagers," Ethan said. Despite the circumstances he managed to hold onto his sense of humor. "We weren't sneaking around your stuff or anything. We're not some 'meddling kids'."

Kira paused, nose wrinkling. "Well, technically, we are."

Anton spoke gently yet firmly. "We were doing research on Dino DNA. With the help of Tommy and our colleagues we had many breakthroughs with our work. It was groundbreaking, what we were able to do. I was sure we were on the verge of a whole new technology. Technology that would serve the betterment to mankind." His eyes shifted downwards. "But it was experimental; too risky to try on anyone but myself. I had no idea the effects would be so monstrous."

"So Dr. O helped you create what would eventually turn you into Mesogog?" Kira asked.

Anton shook his head. "No, what we created turned out to be a very simplified form of what we call the Tyrannodrones. Our work…most of it was destroyed in the island explosion. There were many that perished who were trying to save our work. Tommy was saved from just off the North side of the island and I was saved off the South. It was much too long before I found out what happened to the others and by then I hadn't been able to find Tommy to figure out what happened." He lowered his gaze. "By that time I was already turning into Mesogog. Unwillingly helping him with his plan to bring back the era of the dinosaurs."

" _That's_ his plan?" Ethan asked. "To have dinosaurs roam the Earth again?" He shrugged. "I mean, having a pet Triceratops doesn't sound so bad."

"I'm assuming he doesn't want us to live in harmony, mate," Bailey corrected him.

"She's right," Anton said. "The plan it's…not _my_ plan. This creature, Mesogog, keeps poisoning my mind. It's _his_ plan. I've been trying to separate us but…" His chest swelled with disappointment. "Nothing has worked. He's too smart, too strong. Because we share the same plane of existence, we share the same…mind."

"Brings a new term to 'sending a message mentally'," Kira said.

"You got that right," Conner agreed.

"I can feel when he's starting to come into being, I can never stop him. Just as he can't stop turning back into me." He lowered his head, neck and shoulders starting to quake. "It's…it's not safe," he managed to mumble around his movements. "No one is safe around me. He's been stronger, keeping hold longer with less periods of rest." Anton blinked, eyes flashing from yellow to green. "You…you have to get out of here."

Trent grasped his father's arm. "No! Dad, I can help. I can help you."

Anton continued to shake, the tremors moving through the rest of his body. His mouth opened wide as he cried out, teeth starting to shift and shape into razor sharp fangs. A low hiss erupted from him, making the others back away.

"No! Get out of here." Anton threw his head towards the entrance to the Power Chamber. "You need to stay safe; you need to protect this city." He growled, falling to the ground on his hands and knees. "I'll find a way to stop this, but until I do I need you to try your hardest to break through the evil of the white Dino gem." His back spasmed. "Hurry."

"I wouldn't let him ask us again," Ethan said. "We should jet."

"But I can't fight against you," Trent protested. "That's crazy."

Anton looked up at Trent, his eyes completely yellow now. Half of his face had turned into Mesogog's, the scales slowly working to the other side of his face. "I know you, son. I know you'll do what you have to do." There was a blast of light and Mesogog was once again in Trent's place.

"Let's go!" Conner cried.

"Like, now," Kira agreed.

"You guys go, I'll get Fred," Bailey said.

Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Bailey all quickly left the Power Chamber, with Bailey joining them with Fred a few moments later. He had his arm thrown across her shoulders. He looked bewildered but healed as they landed on the ground. "What'd I miss?" He asked. There was a blast of energy behind them and the group turned to find Mesogog walking his way towards them. "Never mind, I figured it out. Is that Mesogog?"

"Yep," Bailey said simply.

"He looks worse than you said."

"Just wait," Conner said.

The group started to back away from Mesogog as he calmly walked closer. "What are we going to do?" Kira asked.

"We have to morph," Ethan said.

"Yeah, but even unmorphed he was much stronger than us and what happens if he—"Kira cut herself off as a horde of Tyrannodrones and Elsa appeared from an Invisiportal that opened above them. "Calls in the calvary."

"Hold fast guys," Conner said. "We'll be okay."

But Trent took a step towards Mesogog. "Dad," he pleaded. "Don't do this. We can work through this together just…" he held up his hands.

Elsa laughed scornfully. "Oh how sweet, the boy's crying out for his daddy." She crouched towards the ground, holding up her sword. "Your daddy's not here anymore. Deal with it. Or don't. I love to watch them squirm."

"Hey!"

Conner, Kira, Ethan, Trent, Bailey, and Fred all turned around towards the rock ledge above them where five figures stood. Bailey started to smile, immediately recognizing them.

Andros, Zhane, TJ Johnson, Cassie Chan, Ashley Hammond, and Carlos Vallerte all threw up their hands at the same time. "Ready?" Andros asked. He got nods in response.

"Let's Rocket!"

* * *

 **A/N:** Next chapter is more about the rangers on Eltar. I had a lot of fun working with the Dino Thunder rangers in the plot with Anton and Mesogog. What do you think of the pacing? I plan to have it move faster with the next chapter but I can't really get a grasp of how it's going now.

Actually, this is feeling like another version of the first 10 chapters to _These Walls_ when it covered the first MMPR movie and I really enjoyed writing that bit.

Thanks to **zombie-hunt, TerraHart, ToxicWednesday, Ashley, dguice, Remi, brankel1, Adela and lizziestrong** for reviewing.

Please remember to review; if you have anything to comment about, anything to mention, or anything to say, I would love to hear it and it motivates me to write more.

 **~Av**


	38. Chapter 38: Ranger Triumph (3)

**Chapter 38**

 _Ranger Triumph (2)_

* * *

"I hope you don't mind the food I have given to you," Dulcea commented. Her eyes shone with amusement as she looked over the rangers' disgusted expressions. "I seem to remember that you didn't particularly like it so much when you were on Phaedos."

Squirbs.

Again.

How many times were the rangers going to be forced with those wiggling, disgusting things? Billy, once again, seemed to be the only one who didn't mind the things. Once again, he was the only one who had any interest in the food; he was the one who had to keep his friends from trying to shove it on him. He caught Avalon's eye as her nose winkled and her tongue fell out of her mouth in a grotesque expression of disgust and smiled to himself.

At least she didn't glare at him this time.

"There's just something I'm confused about, Dulcea," Tommy said. "How were you able to get off Phaedos? You mentioned before that—"

Dulcea held up a hand. She lowered her chin, the smile still on her face. The shadows on her face danced around with the flickering fire that roared in front of the large circle of rangers who surrounded the campfire. Then, when she lifted her chin, there was a note of sadness in her eyes. "When Zordon perished, the entire galaxy felt it. He had done many good things for those around the galaxies and there were enough of us who were trying to figure out ways to move on. Then I found it was my calling to come to Eltar and to protect it as I've protected Phaedos until the balance was restored."

"What balance?" Aisha asked.

"Do you mean there's a chance Zordon could come back?" Kimberly asked. She sat up, perking up slightly. "That he's not dead?"

Dulcea shook her head. "That energy wave was a release of Zordon's life. I'm sorry, but Zordon is not coming back." Kimberly slumped once more, but nodded. She should've expected that, shouldn't have gotten her hopes up. She hadn't realized how much she would miss him until there wasn't a chance of him coming back. Ever.

Just one of the many things she and the rest of the rangers had taken for granted.

"So…you were the one who brought me to Eltar the last time," Tommy realized.

"Yes, I projected that dream to you. I needed to make sure you could get to Eltar to continue to save the world. See, the thing is rangers, you may try to leave the life of being a ranger behind but it'll never completely leave you. There have been too many experiences that you have had that will be with your forever, continuing to shape you as time passes. No matter what happens it'll always be with you."

"There goes that retirement party I was planning," Zack joked.

"Yeah, I guess I better return the gifts, too," Rocky added. Their friends all laughed and Dulcea's smile widened.

"Rangers, your lives are intertwined with the experiences you've had and will continue to have. Once you embrace your destiny it will continue to go far. But right now, you need to embrace the animal spirits you've neglected over the years and understand how it can continue to grow moving forward."

Jason shook his head. "With all due respect, Dulcea, some of us don't have—"

"—You've always had your animal spirit inside you," Dulcea interrupted. "Great and careful, you are the dragon." She then looked at Trini and Zack. "Young and mystic; Trini, you are the griffin. Wild and true, you are the Mastodon." The three smiled. "All of you rangers have had these powers inside you longer than you have known, and while you may not have had the abilities for the ninja ranger powers it's always there. You need to have faith in yourselves." She looked around at the group, eyebrows coming tougher. "I see there are some of you who have grown closer over the years while others have grown apart." The rangers all glanced at each other. "You need to hold onto those relationships, I sense some great darkness and turmoil in some of you that needs to be eradicated and only your tightly knit bond will do that."

"What do you mean, Dulcea?" Kat asked.

"Get some rest. We'll discuss things further tomorrow. It's going to be a long day." She stood up and closed her eyes, morphing into an owl that flapped its wings and fluttered away.

Adam rested his chin in his hand. "Is it just me or are you expecting there for be a giant dinosaur skeleton to attack us?"

Tommy, Kimberly, Rocky, Aisha, Billy, and Avalon all laughed while the others chuckled to themselves. Once arriving on Eltar Dulcea wanted to learn everything about what had happened with the rangers, also going into detail of what the rangers experienced while getting their ninjetti powers. If they were going to get their old powers back, chances are they were going to have to work hard for it. Or else Dulcea wouldn't continue to see something in them.

"Let's get some sleep," Tommy agreed, suddenly settling upon them. Maybe Dulcea had put some sort of spell on them when they hadn't been paying attention. The rangers all moved to the colorful cots that had been set up for them, in their respective colors.

Billy pulled the blankets tight around his shoulders. The moment his head hit the pillow he was lost in a world of darkness. At first it felt like a dreamless sleep, but then Billy realized how different it was. Colder. The feeling something was watching him. Or maybe he was watching himself, being as distant a watcher of his life and life choices he had made. Through the darkness he saw a blue-white glow that walked towards him and it took a couple of moments before he realized he was looking at himself walk towards him.

"What?" Billy tilted his head to the side, walking closer to him. The Billy across from him watched him come closer, his face twisting up in disgust. "Who are you?"

"I should be asking you that question," Copy-Billy said. Billy blinked rapidly. "You're not the same guy you used to be. How long until you reveal it to the rest of the rangers. Your friends?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You're living a lie, a double life. And it's going to come up on you sooner than later. You won't be able to stop yourself. And you'll watch as you kill all of your friends."

"No," Billy said.

Copy-Billy nodded. "Yes. You'll slaughter them and watch the life leave their eyes and enjoy it as you do it."

"I don't know…" Billy closed his eyes as pain ripped through him. He grunted in pain, bringing his arms to his body, as if trying to hold himself together. It felt like he was ripping apart at the seams. He couldn't control it. Just like he hadn't bene able to control it the last times it had happened. He tried hard, tried hard to fight it. Just as he had when it first started. There was always going to be that tug of war and he wasn't always going to make it out.

The first time it happened, he had been leaving the laboratory when he was captured and held captive by whom he now knew as Elsa. Then Mesogog was walking around him, saying how he needed to get to someone who was close to Dr. Tommy Oliver, so that he could work his way to get revenge on him. Then something had changed and Billy was then Zeltrax. As Zeltrax he could see everything he was doing, and felt his personality shift to that of a henchman for Mesogog who would do anything he could to please his master. Then when turned back to Billy he would remember parts of what he did as Zeltrax before the memory would leave him completely.

The same happening when he was turning back to Zeltrax. The only way he knew for sure had been when he tracked it. Moments of lost time that he would record to determine what was really going on. Now it seemed to be happening more frequently than it had been before. Mesogog must've been desperate.

Billy's eyes squeezed tightly together. He twisted back and forth on his cot. Then his eyes opened wide as he let in a loud gasp. Everyone around him was fast asleep, blissfully unaware of the turmoil going on within him. Pushing back the covers on his cot, Billy rolled onto the forest floor. The humidity swirled around him and he scrambled to his feet, running off into the brush as fast as he could.

His footsteps pounded on the ground a she ran and ran and ran, moving as fast as he could, hoping to leave it behind. Flashes of Zeltrax entered his mind. Of the things he had done to the rangers when he had been without control of his body. Knowing there was more he could do to maim or even kill them. He continued to run, faster, faster. Soon it felt that his body wasn't his own, it was moving all on its own, dragging him somewhere.

The pain slowly subsided and he felt himself slowly gaining control again. Billy stumbled over his feet and fell to the ground, reaching out his hands as they caught against the ground. Dirt spilled between his fingers, creating little hills as they did so. He brought his hands into fists, clenching the dirt in his palms. Billy lowered his head, sweat pouring off his face as he continued to breathe heavily. A small smile came to his face.

He did it.

He managed to keep from turning into Zeltrax this time.

Billy closed his eyes, struggling to catch his breath. He rested back on his heels and sucked in a deep breath. Dusting dirt off his palms, he then ran his hand through his hair, wiped sweat from his face. Then his eyes settled on the house in front of him. Or what slightly resembled a house. Two slabs of concrete that held a roof with a large block of concrete behind it. The opening of the structure sloped downward with the rest of the path disappearing in the darkness inside.

This must've been the same thing that Tommy had seen when he got his powers back. Maybe this was what Dulcea had been planning for them. She always did work in mysterious ways. Getting to his feet, Billy turned to head back to the camp. "Guys!" He called. "Guys, you have to see this!"

The rangers were immediately awoken and on their feet, having grown used to needing to be ready at a moment's notice when the time came. Trini blinked the sleep from her eyes, "What's going on?" She asked.

"Is everything alright, Billy?" Tanya asked. "You're covered in dirt."

"I think I found the place Tommy was talking about," Billy said.

Tommy's eyebrows immediately came together. "That's impossible. It's further in the jungle, a long walk from here." He scratched the back of his head. "According to the map—"

"Tommy," Billy said firmly, I found it.

Avalon eyed him for a long moment. Then she placed her hand on Tommy's shoulder. "I think we should hear what he has to say," she said. "Dulcea has done some strange things to us before, when we were on Phaedos. If she's protecting Eltar now like she had Phaedos…I reckon there's not much that would be too different, yeah?"

"What'd you see?" Aisha asked.

Billy described the concrete house he had seen and Tommy nodded. "Yeah, that's it. Let's go."

The rangers nodded and followed Billy down the path he had been on before. Either Tommy's map had been wrong or Avalon had been right, the concrete house was only a few feet away from their campsite. Dulcea had to have been playing some sort of trick on them or else things were direr than they expected. Once they reached the concrete house, Tommy immediately led them inside.

The stale air rushed back towards them, hitting them in the face. Kimberly winced and turned her head away as dirt reached her eyes. The walkway suddenly became illuminated in a blinding light; and the rangers waited for their eyes to adjust. Once they were able to see again, they followed the path until they came to a large room that appeared to resemble the Command Center, though there were obvious differences. Pressed against the side of the room was a set of stairs Tommy immediately hurried up. The Power Tube was dusted off and while they still expected to find Zordon inside, it was empty.

The room illuminated again, this time a rainbow of colors; orange, yellow, green blue, purple, pink. The power tube continued to pulse in colors before the room completely illuminated with light. The lights left the tube and surrounded the ranges, slowly pushing forward into their chests. Then the light worked its way back out. When it faded, crystals and morphers appeared in the rangers' hands. Mighty Morphin' to Zeo to Turbo.

"It worked," Adam murmured, running his fingers over his Zeo morpher. "I can't believe it worked."

"Why would they let us do it so easily?" Aisha asked. She shook her head. "I don't understand."

"This is something none of us have ever been able to do before," Kat pointed out. "To morph again…how do we know it's not going to destroy us?"

"If not completely maim," Avalon added.

"Thanks for that vote of confidence, Av," Kimberly said to her. Avalon's eyebrows twitched as she looked over the morphers that rested in her hand and on her wrist. Kimberly knew they were all thinking the same thing…how exciting it was to have it again, but knowing the responsibility that came to it and what if they failed…

"Rangers," Dulcea's voice came from the top of the structure and the rangers all tilted their heads back to see her standing at the top of the structure, looking proud. "You have done well to understand that you can never suppress the responsibilities of being a ranger. It's been a part of you even before you can remember."

"When the Great Power chose us," Rocky said.

"When the original rangers were chosen there were exemplary traits that had been seen in them for a long time as well as for their replacements."

"You knew we would be replaced?" Trini asked.

"Rangers are always replaced," Dulcea explained. "This is something that has been going on for eons, long before you were born. Life gets in the way, things happen, there are always those that can take on the mantle and they're always watched. It's destiny."

"You said you were going to train us," Avalon said. "That we had a long day in front of us…"

"Dear one, it is morning, you've already had your long day of training."

The rangers all looked at each other in confusion. Billy and Tommy exchanged a confused glance. Dulcea waved her arm and her staff, where blue sparkles emanated. The sparkles swirled around the room, growing brighter and brighter until the walls disappeared around them and they were standing in the middle of the forest once more. Trees stood tall around them and as Billy looked around, he couldn't see the campsite. The sun rose high in the sky—no, two suns—heating up the air around them.

Fatigue struck him and he suddenly noticed that he and his friends were covered in dirt and cuts. He understood it now. It looked like the campsite to the trail had been short but it had been long. Even from where he stood he could see a mountain peak behind him. Then he glanced at his friends, they looked as confused as he did.

"Your dreams revealed a lot of the struggles you've been facing and you worked your way through them. That was the training you needed to go through."

Billy's refusal of Zeltrax. That had been his training. Breaking away from the pull of it. But what about the others? They looked confused and proud, but Aisha looked to be devastated about something. She rested her hands on her stomach before wrapping her arms around it, hunching over a little bit. Rocky reached out and slid his arm around her shoulders, comforting her. Maybe he knew about it, too. No, he was smiling. Whatever he had dreamt was something _good_ that he managed to overcome.

"You're open to accept the powers again," Dulcea said. "They will continue to guide you through your quest for peace." She tilted her head. "I'm sorry I've had to be quiet and I'm sorry our time together was short. But believe me and the others that have protected our home planets our galaxies over the years have a lot of faith in you. We know there is nothing you can't do when you work together. I have faith in you, rangers."

Tommy took a step forward and nodded. "Dulcea, we'll miss you."

"I'm always with you. Just like your animal spirits are. Let them be your guide. You will not fail us." Dulcea lifted her hand and the rangers turned into colors of light, steaking up into the sky as they teleported. Dulcea smiled as they went.

"May the power protect you all."

* * *

Andros, Zhane, TJ, Cassie, Ashley, and Carlos leapt forward and immediately jumped into attack against the Tyrannodrones that appeared with Elsa and Mesogog. The two stood back and watched the Astro Rangers as they fought.

"These pesky brats seem to pop up everywhere," Elsa complained. "Can't we just squish them once and for all?"

He held up his hand, motioning for Elsa to stay where she was. Then he turned his head, and brought up his hand, running a scaly finger down Elsa's cheek. She closed her eyes and turned at the touch. "No, this is what we need," Mesogog said. "We need to watch to see what happens."

"Master?" Elsa asked.

"It'll give us an idea of what we're up against."

"Got it."

"We've got to help them," Conner said. "Now that we have them on our side, we can take them down."

"What about my dad?" Trent asked.

Conner nodded at him. "We're going to save him." Trent nodded back, giving a small smile. "Are you guys ready?"

"Ready!" Ethan, Kira, Trent, and Bailey replied.

"Dino Thunder, Power up! Ha!"

"White Ranger, Dino Power!"

The group morphed and, along with Fred, launched themselves into battle with the Astro Rangers. The Tyrannodrones couldn't hold up against the army of rangers that were coming against them. But Mesogog had seen that coming and continued to bring in wave after wave of henchmen, opening Invisiportal after Invisiportal to send more out. And yet, they all continued to fight, working as hard as they could.

Mesogog's eyes lit up, the closest thing to a smile the lizard monster could create. "Yes," he hissed. "Just what I needed."

"Master, may I go out to fight yet?" Elsa asked.

Mesogog lowered his hand and Elsa took that as her chance. She leapt forward and shot out her whip, wrapping it around Cassie's neck. She cried out in surprise, falling onto the ground, pulled back behind her. Elsa then lowered herself around Cassie's front and dropped her knee into her stomach.

"Ugh!" Cassie cried out.

"Hey!" Elsa turned just as Fred sent a flying kick into her face. She spun to the ground, releasing the grip on her whip. Cassie scrambled back to her feet. "Satellite Stunner!" She pulled out her weapon and fired it at Elsa, who rolled out of the way once more. The blast knocked into the ground, knocking rocks up into the air, threatening them to rain down on her friends.

"Spiral Saber!" Andros leapt high in the air and, with his weapon, spun through a few of the rocks and Tyrannodrones at the same time.

"Star Slinger!" Ashley pulled out her weapon and shot through a few more, taking out Tyrannodrones as well.

"Ptera Grips!""Cephala Club!"

Kira and Bailey summoned their weapons and jumped high into the air, coming down with strong attacks from their weapons as they did so. Down went another wave of Tyrannodrones. Trent summoned his Dino ATV and used it to speed himself around more Tyrannodrones, helping take down the ones that were coming close on TJ's and Carlos's unprotected sides.

"Hey, those are some nice wheels you've got there," TJ called.

"Yeah, I remember when we had those, too," Carlos agreed. He spun around and slashed across the face of the Tyrannodrone with his Lunar Lance.

"Don't get caught up, guys," Zhane said to them. "We've got to take these guys down."

"They can take care of the Tyrannodrones," Ethan said to Conner and Kira. "Let's take on Mesogog."

"We have to remember, it's Trent's dad," Kira reminded them.

"No problem," Conner said.

The three broke off from the rest of the rangers and raced towards their target. Mesogog looked at the three with a dismissive glance of his eyes. But he didn't move as they continued to come closer and closer to him. Finally, spoke to them.

"Your heads are too big for your helmets," he remarked. "Prepare for your demise." And then he launched into battle with the three rangers. If they thought he was strong before, when unmorphed, it seemed he was even stronger now. No matter what the rangers came at them with their fists and feet, he easily deflected them. After a particularly bad claw against the front of his suit, Conner cried out in pain as sparks flew.

He knew what that meant. His suit was losing energy, thus making him lose energy in turn. But he wasn't going to give up just yet. Not when there were more tyrannodrones that were coming in. Not when Mesogog was still a threat to them. He looked up as there was a loud booming sound, a sonic boom. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up as a large array of colors streaked across the sky, arching towards the ground.

When the lights faded, the former rangers stood up from their crouched positions on the ground. "No way," Fred said. "You guys made it back, just in time."

"How fun," Elsa practically purred. "More rangers ready to be destroyed."

"We're not going to make it easy for you, Elsa," Avalon said.

"Ooh, I'm quaking in my boots."

"Get ready," Tommy said. "The rangers are back in action and there's nothing you can do to stop us."

"It's morphin' time!" Jason called.

"Mastodon!" Zack called.

"Pterodactyl!" Kimberly called.

"Triceratops!" Billy called.

"Saber-Tooth Tiger!" Trini called.

"Tyrannosaurus!" Jason called.

"Yellow Ranger Power! The Bear!" Aisha called.

"It's morphin' time!" Adam said. He, Rocky, Tanya, and Kat all pulled out their morphers. "Power Rangers! Zeo!"

"Zeo Ranger I, Pink!" Kat called.

"Zeo Ranger II, Yellow!" Tanya called.

"Zeo Ranger III, Blue!" Rocky called.

"Zeo Ranger IV, Green!" Adam called.

"Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!" Tommy and Avalon both called.

"Power Rangers!" Jason, Billy, Zack, Trini, Kimberly, and Aisha cried.

"Power Rangers, Zeo!" Rocky, Adam, Tanya, and Kat cried.

"Dino Rangers!" Tommy and Avalon cried.

"Alright!" Kira cheered, seeing all of the rangers morph once again.

"Let's do this." Conner brought his hand into a fist, throwing up his thumb towards Tommy. Tommy gave him a thumbs up in reply and the rangers brought themselves into the battle. Conner, Kira, and Ethan turned their attention back to Mesogog, who they found was racing towards them at blinding speed. "Blasters!" He, Kira, and Ethan quickly pulled them out. "Fire!"

Red, Blue, and Yellow energy blasts shot out of their blasters. Each one hit Mesogog but he continued to run towards them, unfazed. "What?" Ethan cried, seconds before Mesogog struck them in the front, knocking them over and onto the ground.

Ethan started to get back up, but was grabbed by the helmet and flung backward into the rock wall behind him. Dust kicked up around him, coughing Ethan to choke as he fell to the ground. Conner and Kira were at his side in seconds, helping him to his feet.

"Man, he's fast," Ethan said.

"Maybe even faster than you, Conner," Kira agreed.

Conner gritted his teeth. Mesogog came flying back towards them. "What's up with this guy?" Conner asked. He shook his head. "Let's try our sabers." The three pulled them out. "Thundermax Sabers! Power up!" The three then split up to surround Mesogog on all sides. They charged towards him, blades raised high, but he moved again, causing the rangers to strike each other with their blades.

The moment they hit the ground, Mesogog shot a beam of energy out towards them, sending them flying into the air, only to land hard on the ground. Stunned, Conner rolled onto his back. "Hang on you guys!" Avalon called. "Ankylo Axe!" She turned her axe on its side and threw it hard.

It whipped around like a boomerang and sent energy blasts to Mesogog. It wasn't enough to harm him, but enough to drag his attention away. Mesogog whipped around to glare at her, but Elsa stepped forward, already bored with the Astro Rangers.

"Don't worry master, I'll get rid of this pest," She said and charged towards Avalon, who grabbed her by the arms and flung the two to the ground.

"Pterodactyl Thunder Whip!" Kimberly summoned her ribbon weapon and threw it towards Elsa, capturing her around the leg. Elsa slammed to the ground, arms out stretched in front of her. "Power Bow!" The pink ranger grasped the weapon. "Boy, did I miss this." She pulled back hard on the bow. "Fire!" Energy shot out and rained down around Elsa, who cried out in pain.

Even without the distraction, Mesogog continued to make quick work of Conner, Kira, and Ethan. His speed really was much faster than Conner's, speeding around them so fast that there were only blasts of light that hit them, causing them to flail before hitting the ground. Even the use of their special powers didn't help, not even the inclusion of using Super Dino Mode helped.

"There has to be something we can do," Conner said. "I'm not going to take this lying down." Just then the ground started to rumble, making all the rangers struggle to keep their balance. The ground continued to shake as a crack appeared between them and Mesogog. As the seconds passed, the ground continued to split in two slowly pulling apart from each other. There was a bright beam of light that emanated from underground, sliding up into the air.

"What is that?" Trini asked.

"Looks to be a shield of some sort," Zack said.

"The Shield of Triumph," Tommy announced.

The white object continued to rise out of the ground, hovering in front of Conner. Confused, he reached out and grabbed onto it, finding it much lighter than he anticipated. It rested in his hands, taking on a light red glow.

"What is that thing?" Fred asked.

"The Shield of Triumph," Tommy repeated. He took a step forward. "Only a ranger in complete sync with the universal dino energy can handle its power. For the shield to assume its power, all rangers must contribute a part of themselves." He nodded over to Trent, Avalon and Bailey. They nodded back and the two moved to join Conner, Kira, and Ethan. "We have to give our trust to Conner."

"Do…do you trust me?" Conner asked.

"I do," Kira said firmly.

"I always did, you won't be sorry," Ethan agreed.

"No question," Bailey said.

"You can do this, Conner," Avalon said.

"We're right behind you," Trent agreed.

"Let's do this," Tommy said.

"Triassic Power!" Conner called. He held out the shield as Kira, Ethan, Tommy, Bailey, Trent, and Avalon all glowed and passed their powers over to the shield. "Engage!" There was a pulse of red light from the shield as it absorbed the dino powers, when it faded, revealing a new shield and a new suit with gold accents for Conner.

"Wow," Kira breathed.

"He did it," Tommy agreed. Only seconds before he and the rest of the dino rangers fell to their knees and de-morphed, having given up most of their energy.

"You're in big trouble now," Conner said to Mesogog. "Shield of Triumph! Activate!" Thrusting his shield forward, Conner and Mesogog raced out into another fight. "Sword of Triumph, activate!" This time when Conner slashed at Mesogog it seemed to hurt him. He backed away with each hit that was bestowed on him, but as usual, didn't lose his temper. "Full Power!"

The sword sticking out of the shield glowed gold and Conner slashed it once again. But this time, an Invisiportal opened above Mesogog and he disappeared through it. Elsa and the Tyrannodrones disappeared through them as well.

"Power down!" All of the rangers cried in unison, de-morphing before hurrying over to their fallen friends.

"Are you okay?" Aisha and Kat grabbed Bailey's arms and helped her up.

"No worries," Bailey said. "Never better."

"Yeah, now that we've got that on our side, it's nothing we can't handle," Rocky agreed with a smile. "What do you call that thing again?"

"The Shield of Triumph," Conner said.

"Man, wish we had something like that when we were still going," Aisha said.

Kimberly put an arm around her shoulders. "You're already forgetting, we're back in action. We're still going." Aisha smiled and rested her head on Kimberly's shoulders as the two smiled.

"Andros." Jason held his hand out to the Red Astro Ranger, who took it and shook it firmly. "Thanks for the help, man."

"It's no problem," Andros replied.

"But I'm confused, how did you know we needed help?" Tanya asked.

"We got the readings from the Mega Voyager," Carlos explained. "We'd been tracking things since these evil monsters came back."

"Yeah, it wasn't _that_ much of a coincidence that we locked onto your power," Zhane said. A bright grin came to his face as he looked over each of the rangers. "I've heard a lot about all of you. I can't believe I'm seeing you all in person."

"Speaking of which," TJ said. He looked at Tommy with a raised eyebrow. "I thought you retired."

"Yeah, that word doesn't exist in Tommy's vocabulary," Kimberly teased.

"Apparently not in ours, either," Jason agreed. "We have a lot to catch up on."

"We have time," Cassie said.

* * *

Billy stared at the chess board in front of him, hardly looking at it. His father had given up on facing him ages ago, Billy had started to beat him time and time against when he was only eight years old, but it was something Billy still enjoyed doing. Studying the board to see any of the moves his opponent could make and what he could make in turn.

But this time he couldn't focus. His mind was too far away. Back on Eltar, to be exact. Tommy had said something about feeling safe and protected when he was on Eltar, like a liquid shield that covered him. He hadn't felt the same sense of protection when he was up there. Then Dulcea had said there was a ranger battling a sense of darkness. Then there was his dream, his trial…obviously she was speaking about him and how he was struggling with Zeltrax being a part of him as well.

But what did it all mean? And how would he finally eradicate himself from the part of him that he wasn't entirely sure was always there.

"If you look any harder you might set the chess board on fire, mate," Avalon remarked. Billy looked up as she rounded the coffee table and sat on the couch across from him, leaning forward to look at the board. Then she looked up at him, her eyes locked on his. "What's wrong?"

"A problem I'm not sure how to fix," he said.

"Shouldn't be too hard."

"What makes you say that?"

"I reckon,"—Avalon reached out and grabbed her first piece, moving it forward—"That you always come up with the answers. Sooner or later. So, it won't be long for you to figure things out."

"You have too much faith in me," Billy said. He studied the board for a moment before moving his piece.

"No, I just know you. And you always put too much pressure on yourself for the answers. But it's always there, even when you don't know it," Avalon said. She rested her chin in her hand, mimicking Billy's stance before flicking her hair behind her shoulders. "Is this something that has to do with your job or-?"

"What was your test?" Billy interrupted. Avalon lifted an eyebrow. Normally he was too polite for that. "Sorry," he apologized. "But what was your test? When we were on Eltar?"

Avalon thought for a moment. Then she smiled. "Way to get to the point, Billy." Something inside him stirred, as it always did when she said his name. Disappointment, maybe? She had never called him by his name since bestowed the nickname 'Smurf' on him. Not even when she was angry. Here they were, having a good conversation and she still called him Billy.

For a moment, he wondered if she were still mad, but then realized it wasn't the case. None of her body language would prove the theory. Despite their conversation having been interrupted earlier, they had gotten everything off their chest that had been brewing for at least ten years but since then they hadn't had much time to talk about it. Ranger duties always came first.

"My test was…really surprising, actually," She admitted.

"Was it the Vipers?" Billy asked.

"No," Avalon replied. "It was me."

Billy looked at her curiously. Not pressing her to continue, knowing it was better she included the information of her own volition. But Avalon continued to stay silent. That was fine with him. He needed time to figure out everything with Zeltrax. And…he wasn't quite sure how to bring it up to the rest of the team. There was a light blue glow and Billy looked down to the morpher that rested on the table beside him, the Triceratops Power Coin having glinted.

Inside, he could feel his wolf spirit growling lightly, encouraging him.

"Anyway," Billy said. "Do you want to play?" He gestured to the board.

"I thought we already where." Avalon smiled and moved another piece over. "Check!"

Billy smiled back.

* * *

 **A/N:** Yes, finally all the rangers getting together to fight again. _And_ Conner got his Triassic powers. There's plenty more where that came from now that the Astro Rangers are in the fold as well. Please let me know what you guys think and I'll update again soon. I know it's been a while but I was focusing on _Powerless_ a bit.

I do have a question though; I have a series that will come after both the Avalon and Bailey series (not spoiling the title yet) and it will still have Av and Bay as main characters. Would you want me to post it once _New Beginning_ is done (which will bring some spoilers for the Bailey series) or wait until I'm done with the Bailey series?

Also, you will see the other trials the rangers had to go through in their dreams as the chapters go on, this one was just centered on Billy.

Thanks to **Adela, dguice, zombie-hunt, ToxicWednesday, lizziestrong, Ashley, brankel1, Guest, and TerraHart** for reviewing.

Please remember to review; if you have anything to comment about, anything to mention, or anything to say, I would love to hear it and it motivates me to write more.

 **~Av**


	39. Chapter 39: Red Rag to a Bull

**Chapter 39**

 _Red Rag to a Bull_

* * *

Conner stretched his arms over his head. He blinked a few times, trying to make sense of the poster hanging on his ceiling. Right. They were back in Reefside.

After everything that had happened with the other rangers, they were already back in Reefside. Like nothing had changed. He had heard stories of the rangers that had saved their respective cities. Even his brother had said how three of the students at his school turned out to be rangers. At first, he had thought they were all a joke. A fantastical story. But now that he knew it was true, it was hard to wrap his head around how easily they had to change. How they had to jump back and forth from what was making them mature to going back to being those 'immature, irresponsible teenagers'. How he was supposed to pretend that everything was normal?

It was amazing, being able to see the Zeo, Turbo, and Space teams fight together against Elsa and Mesogog. It was even more amazing being able to talk to the Space rangers and learn about their adventures. That was the part Conner had difficulty wrapping his head around. They _lived, breathed,_ and _fought_ in space. Going against different monsters and alien species that Conner would never even imagine existed. They gave up their lives on Earth to do so.

And there he, Ethan, Kira, and Trent were, the new team of rangers and for the most part they couldn't get along. How embarrassing. They were closer now, Conner spent more time with them than with his soccer teammates, than with his family, than with anyone else he had ever spent time with. And he now enjoyed it. Sure, he still thought Ethan was a nerd at times, he could go off on so many tangents about science, math, and computer stuff that he clearly didn't care for. But he was a tough opponent in battle, thick skin and all. Then there was Kira; he and Kira had a past with each other that he had tried hard to forget about but knew it wasn't possible. Now that he knew for sure what was going on with her parents, he thought of the way she acted, the way she dressed, how she didn't trust anyone to get too close to her. Now that he knew for sure, it was hard to see her act that way.

He knew the _real_ Kira. The one who laughed at some of the lamest jokes and didn't act like she was better than everyone and everything in Reefside. But she had begged him not to say anything and he wouldn't. Not until he had to. But it was hard. She was as tough as nails and wouldn't let anyone get in the way of what she wanted. But how much longer could that work out if her life was at stake on and off the ranger field?

Trent was harder for him to get along with…and for purely terrible reasons, he knew. But it was hard to be a leader of someone he wasn't sure could put his emotions aside and fight his father. Conner wasn't sure how he would react if his step-father ended up being his mortal enemy. If anything, that wouldn't make the way he felt about the man any different. He didn't _hate_ his step-father by any means but greatly disliked him, disliked how his mother seemed to be so meek around him. But Trent didn't just have to deal with his father being Mesogog, he also had to deal with lupus, being the new kid, and having ranger powers that may completely take control of him when he least expected it. And yet Trent still stood by their side and worked hard.

Then there was Bailey. He knew there was something different about her when they met. He hadn't met someone who smiled so much, no matter what came her way. She took everything in stride but could put on the strength when she needed. Not to mention her ranger power from the Cephalosaurus. Her past on other ranger teams was evident as well; while not a mentor to them like Tommy and Avalon, she was a great tactician and understood their zords and weapons like no one's business. At least Hayley had someone who got it whenever she would try to explain the mechanics of everything. And Bailey was fun, too. She was the one who rallied all of the rangers together to go to Conner's games, remind them about Kira's performances, and talked up hers and Ethan's achievements within their science clubs. Though Conner could easily say she was a bit of a dictator when she was helping others with their schoolwork. To the point it got scary.

And then there was him. He was the leader of it all. The others had proven that they believed his abilities to take on the Triassic Power. And it was the best feeling in the world. He knew he wasn't the best person; he had picked on and teased the others and other students in the school as far as he could remember. Had abandoned Kira at a time she probably needed his help the most. Had embarrassed Bailey when he turned her down for a date. Yet they were all able to set their differences aside and come together to understand him as their leader. Red ranger or not, he hoped it was because of his abilities as a person.

"You okay, bro?" Conner rolled over to find Ethan sitting up on his sleeping bag, a book resting in his lap. He looked over at Conner with a concerned expression. He gave a teasing smile. "I know you really like soccer, but the way you're looking at your poster is starting to creep me out a little. I mean, unless there's something you want to tell me."

"Shut up." Conner reached behind him and grabbed a pillow, hefting it towards him. Ethan shot up his arm, it immediately adapting his tricera-skin, to deflect it back into Conner's face. "I like girls, man. That's never a question."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, really."

"So what's up with you and Kira then."

Conner hefted himself up onto his side. "What do you mean? We're just friends."

"No, you and _I_ are just friends. And thank God for that." Ethan laughed to himself. Then he looked a little serious. "Look, it's fine if you haven't figured everything out yet. But I saw what happened at her place before we went to Angel Grove."

Conner's eyes widened. He tried not to let it show, but he couldn't help it. He hadn't realized anyone else had seen it. But, maybe that was a good thing. If Kira knew that he _and_ Ethan knew stuff was going on with her family, then maybe it'd get her to talk. "So you know about…"

"Her dad? Yeah." Ethan lowered his chin. "That really sucks. She never acted like there was anything going on."

"You haven't known Kira that long," Conner said. "She used to be a lot…warmer with people. We hung out all the time."

"With Cassidy?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah, with Cassidy. She used to be so different, too. But, you know, that was before she started to get her face in the newspaper all the time. And you know how Cassidy she is with fame. It got to her head before she even knew where her head was."

"I can't believe you used to date her," Ethan added.

"Don't remind me. Cassidy's not bad when you get to know her. She's just really ambitious and won't let anything get in her way." Conner ran a hand through his hair. "Unfortunately, that's not translated into she's going to crush anyone that gets in her way of being a news anchor." Conner sighed heavily, sitting up straight.

"Okay, so if it's none of that, then something must be on your mind," Ethan pointed out. He rolled his eyes. "And I _know_ you're not jealous of Fred."

"Why would I be jealous of Fred?" Conner snorted.

Ethan shrugged. "Oh, gee, I don't know. Maybe because he was one of the ones that got special training from Dr. O? Maybe because he has so much martial arts training that he can handle everything without being a ranger. Maybe because you're jealous of him and Bailey."

"I'm not jealous of them. I don't…." Conner licked his lips. "Okay, Bailey will probably kill me for telling you this. But, she kissed me once and I turned her down. I don't like her that way." Conner's eyes widened when Ethan gave a blasé, "I know, she told me." Conner brought up his hands and ran them over his face. "When did she tell you?"

"When I asked her about Fred," Ethan explained. "During that big dinner we had."

The big dinner after having taken down Elsa, the Pirranatrons, and Mesogog. After Conner had taken them all down with the Shield of Triumph and the rest of his Triassic Power. They had the time to talk to the Space Rangers, and learn everything about Divatox, the Machine Empire, and Rita and Zedd. Conner sat with more of the original team, wanting to know how they managed to do everything. Maybe it was getting the shield of triumph but he felt he needed to be more responsible with everything that had been given him.

Conner racked his brain, trying to remember. Ethan, Kira, and Trent _had_ sat with more with each other than the older rangers. They _had_ looked like they were having a great time. Whatever it was Rocky, Carlos, and TJ were talking about had them cracking up time and time again. What was even better was hearing about Andros and Zhane getting acclimated with being on Earth at the beginning as well as other Earth customs.

"I'm just saying that for a minute there, it looked like you were jealous of Fred."

"I'm _not_ ," Conner insisted. "It's just…she never mentioned him to me. And if they were together when she kissed me—"

"They're not together," Ethan interrupted. "At least not right now. She explained it to me saying they've been on and off for a long time. You know, like, always having those feelings for each other." Ethan waved his hand. "Okay, I don't know that personally." He frowned, shaking his head. "God, I really have to get a girlfriend. That's my goal after all of this ranger stuff is done."

"Oh, so that's going to be your pick-up line?" Conner joked. "I _used_ to be a power ranger? That'll totally have all of the girls falling at your feet."

"By then they'll be college girls. You know…once I figured out where I want to go," Ethan said. He closed his book, which Conner couldn't help but notice was a textbook. "I can't believe it's coming up so fast."

"Um, it's just the end of Thanksgiving Break. It's not even Christmas yet," Conner reminded him. "You have plenty of time to decide."

"That's going to come up on you fast," Ethan pointed out. "We have SATs we're taking next month. We have to start putting out our applications together. It's not something that you'd take lightly. I mean, have you even thought of it?"

 _If by thought of, you mean having it shoved in my head all the time, then yeah,_ Conner thought. As it was, he didn't know if he was even going to go to college. What he knew for sure was that he was never going to mention that to his parents until he knew for sure. He didn't need his step-father to remind him how much of an idiot he was.

"Don't worry, I've got a plan," Conner said. He hoped he sounded as confident as he felt. There was only one dream for him, really. To start his own line of soccer camps. Or going into a sporting company, some sort of management. Yeah, college was more than likely going to be a big part of that. But how could he make it through college if he couldn't make it through high school without wanting to skip every day. "I just need to get out of high school first."

"What about your grades now?"

"My grades are fine!" There was more bite in his words than he intended.

Ethan held up his hands. "I'm not saying you're stupid, Conner. Just…we know being a ranger isn't going to be forever. And we know we have to go through and start to prepare for our futures. I just want to see all of my friends succeed."

"We're friends," Conner said.

Ethan made a face. "Of course, we're friends. I wouldn't have been sleeping on your bedroom floor if we weren't friends."

"No. I wasn't asking of we were, I was saying it. Just think about it, dude. We started off being rangers at the beginning of the school year. Only a few months ago. Would you ever thought that we'd be friends? Ever? I just thought you were a computer nerd back then."

"And I thought you were just a dumb jock," Ethan shot back. "Guess we were both wrong about each other." He peered at Conner clearly concerned. "Are you sure you're okay, man?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Conner looked at his watch. "Did you want to take first shower? I've got a meeting with the soccer team to get to soon. After that we can hang out or whatever."

"You don't think we've already hung out enough the last few days?" Ethan asked.

"Hey, you were the one who forgot your parents were going to be going out of town for Thanksgiving, while you were in Angel Grove, not me." Conner stood up and grabbed a red towel, draping it over his shoulder. "I could've kept you out on the street."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Ethan stretched out again and brought his book back up to his face.

Conner went to the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He let out a long sigh, glancing at the bracelet on his wrist, while using his free hand to turn on the shower. There wasn't anything outwardly different about the Dino Gem that sat in it. It gleamed the same way it had since first finding it. But still, he felt a new surge of power through it whenever he looked at it, whenever he ran his fingers over the red gem for luck. Actually, he found himself touching it more often lately, almost as if it were a reminder of what he was doing.

But doubt continued to nag him, not more so than ever. He thought he had gotten over his worries of being a leader of the team. But with this new power, with the shield of triumph, it was dangerous. He was taking a power source from his friends to be able to use it. What would happen if the others were attacked during that time? He'd never be able to live with himself if something happened to them.

Stepping into the shower, Conner tried to push the thoughts out of his head but they kept coming back. So he made a decision. He wasn't going to his soccer team practice that day. He was going to talk to Dr. O, OR Jason, or whomever else was around for him to speak to. He needed some guidance and Dr. O _had_ said that's what the older rangers were there for. Still, Conner found it weird to see all the new numbers in his cell phone. Like Tanya Sloane (or Tanya Park as she went by personally), for example. She was a major recording artist and she was now someone they were going to be close to.

"All of us rangers, we're a family," Tanya had said when Kira mentioned the same thought. "Kind of like a sorority, actually. No matter where you are, or if you need help, one of us will be there."

He hoped it was true.

Once he finished showering, Conner left the house, dodging his mother and step-father in the living room and hurried to his car. Gravel ripped off the driveway as Conner's tires spun, heading towards Dr. O's house. It seemed that that's where all the rangers had been gathering as of late, so there had to be someone there to talk to. For a moment, he thought that Bailey might answer the door and a worried squiggle shot through his gut. Not that he was avoiding her, but he always hated making girls cry or feel uncomfortable in any way. He could be a jerk at times, but he wasn't a monster.

Avalon opened the door when he knocked, startling him for a moment. Not just because he had to actually lower his chin so he could see her, but because of her wearing glasses. It made her look more, real and not as intimidating as she could be at times. Though Conner knew from being around her so much the intimidation wasn't completely real. But that she took ranger duties incredibly seriously.

"Hey Conner, how ya going?" She asked.

"I'm going, just fine," Conner replied. He slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "You're looking amazing today."

Despite rolling her eyes, Avalon smiled. "Please, I'm way too old and way too fucking short for you, McKnight. Come on in." She stepped back and allowed Conner to move by her and into the house. "If you're looking for Tommy he's out. He had a lot of grading he needed to do and, apparently, Bailey and I distract him too much."

Conner smiled a little. He'd heard their little bickers ever now and then. It really made them seem real, remembering that they were brother and sister and not just the two people who were trying to make him and the rest of their team as good as they possible could be. "Well, I was just hoping he'd have some time to talk."

"You can talk to me," Avalon said. She led him into the kitchen where a bunch of papers were spread out along the dining table. Quickly, she stacked them up and set them aside before motioning him to fill in the seat across from her. "I may not be as good help, but I've been told I'm a good listener."

"When you don't yell you mean?" Conner asked. He flushed at Avalon's raised eyebrow. "Bailey's mentioned a few times that you didn't really get along with the rangers at the beginning."

"Hmm." Avalon rested her chin in her hand and looked at Conner curiously. "Has she ever mentioned what our life was like when we first got to Angel Grove and met them and everything?" Conner shook his head. "Well, that's a conversation for another time, yeah? But just know that back then I was lost. I wasn't really friendly with the rangers then because of some things going on in my life. But overtime, as you can see, we became close. Now they're all my family." She lifted her finger. "And I don't yell, I loudly guide."

"Yeah, I noticed," Conner agreed. There were times he'd noticed her frustration coming up when they weren't getting something right away. "Um, well, I guess I don't really know what I came to talk about. Zack had helped me before, realizing what it means to be a leader, but…I guess I'm worried about it again."

"Because of the Shield of Triumph?" Avalon guessed.

Conner nodded.

"You should be proud that it chose you to take on the power, mate," Avalon reminded him. Her face softened, her lips pulling back into a smile. "Or is that the issue? You don't think you deserve it."

Conner shrugged. "I guess.

"Who else do you think should have it?"

"Dr. O? Maybe."

"Conner, Tommy and I have been rangers before. We understand everything that comes into it. We're not the leaders of this time. We're here to _help_ not to run over everything. That's what being a mentor is for."

"But the dino gems bonded to you guys for a reason," Conner reminded her. "You told us that."

"That doesn't necessarily mean that we're the ones who are right for certain things that happen. Being a ranger is a journey, not just the responsibilities that keep us from being able to have fun at a dance or get our school work done. It's something that lets us really figure out who we are as people. Now, I understand the pressure it can put on you, to be the red ranger."

"I know," Conner murmured. He lowered his gaze to his hands. "We talked about it before."

"The thing is, Conner, with this new power you have, that's even more pressure. And if things happen the same way they have with all the former red rangers, then chances are you're going to be even stronger than you are now."

"How am I supposed to handle that?" Conner asked. He looked miserable. He could already run faster than he could ever imagine. Could already take on whatever monster came with way with ease—the henchmen anyway. He had to hold back his restraint when it came to how much power and strength he showed around other people. If he got even stronger, how much longer could he hide his real identity?

"Only you know how. No one faces this the same way," Avalon said. "The only thing each of us have is the want and need to everyone to be safe. No matter what." She paused. "And the thing is, you know where to go to figure that out for you."

"Are you sure about that?" Conner snorted. "I'm just a dumb jock, remember."

Avalon shook her head, sadness coming to her eyes. "Mate, I'm sorry a lot of people have said that to you in your life. I reckon it's so ingrained in your head that it's a reputation you're working hard to push away. But you can do this." She looked at him closely. "And, honestly, I don't think it's the new power that's making you feel helpless. When fighting and on the soccer field, that's where you're the most confident. It's everything else that bothers you. And, if you think about it hard, I think you know where your problems truly lie."

Conner thought hard about what Avalon said and the truth hit him like a ton of bricks.

He liked Kira. _Really,_ liked her.

And he couldn't stand to see her getting hurt anymore.

How could he have all of these great powers and not be able to save her from her father?

He looked over at Avalon, noticing there was a strange expression on her face. Almost as if there was something she knew that she wasn't telling him. Like he'd seen it before.

* * *

 **A/N:** I love getting into Conner's head and showing that he's not just the dumb jock, especially as he does mature as the series goes on. Actually, it's given me an idea for another Dino Thunder story when this is done. Please remember to review; I try to answer every one and it motives me to write more and helps me become a better writer.

Also, _Headstrong_ is now off hiatus.

Thanks to **Adela, dguice, zombie-hunt, ToxicWednesday, lizziestrong, Ashley, brankel1, Guest, and TerraHart** for reviewing.

 **~Av**


	40. Chapter 40: Fight to the Finish

**Chapter 40**

 _Fight to the Finish  
_

* * *

Ethan had only just pulled open his locker door before it was smacked back, nearly striking him in the head. Actually, it _had_ struck him in the head. But his Tricera powers had come in quickly, making it bounce back and smack whomever had thrown it at him. With the loud clang of metal striking skull and the groan that came back in response, Ethan knew whatever he had hit was big.

It only took him a few seconds before he realized it was Derrick who was glaring at him, holding his nose as he stepped back from his locker door. Ethan gulped, looking back at him. That wasn't good. He hadn't done anything to defend himself and here he was, going to get the snot kicked out of him all because his powers had kicked in when he needed it.

"Okay, I know that wasn't something you were expecting," Ethan started.

"You just beat my face in you fag!" Derrick shot back. He removed his hand from his nose and reached out, grabbing Ethan by the collar of his shirt. "You're going to get it now!"

"And what were you going to do?" Ethan grabbed Derrick's hands and pulled them off his neck. "You're going to threaten me like you always do? Throw me around and think I won't fight back?" The second the words left his mouth, Ethan knew he was in trouble. He wasn't the one that was supposed to start a fight, he could only stop one when it escalated to the point where the powers were needed. But then again, Derrick was really starting to get on his last nerve and he couldn't take it anymore.

He was a power ranger, he took down the toughest monsters ever and yet he couldn't figure out how to stand up to a bully. Well, he wasn't going to take it anymore.

"Dude! Dude! You have to check this out!" Devon cried, running over to the two. He seemed not to notice that Derrick was there. He thrust a computer game into Ethan's face. "I got the early release to Medieval Magic Quest. Dude, it's got all of the expansions that we could ever want!" He cried out when Derrick grabbed him by the shoulder and shoved him away.

"We're in the middle of something, dweeb, get out of here!" Derrick snarled.

Devon nodded and started to back away, fumbling with his camera and video game as he did so. Ethan let out a huge sigh and turned back to Derrick. "Okay, if we're going to do this, it's going to be between you and me. Don't take it out on Devon."

Derrick cracked his knuckles. "Okay, if that's what you want." He reared back his fist and surprised Ethan with a punch to the side of the face. Stars exploded in front of Ethan's eyes and he stumbled to the side. But he caught his balance and turned back, swinging his fist towards Derrick. It connected solidly with the side of Derrick's head. That wasn't the worst part; the worst part was that he concentrated so hard his fist turned scaly before smacking into him. Derrick's head bounced off the lockers beside him with a loud _bang!_

Ethan and Devon both stared in shock and surprise. Then Derrick pushed himself off the locker, blood trickling down the side of his face, and glared at Ethan. His chest heaved up and down. Then with an animalistic cry he charged forward and knocked Ethan to the ground, tackling him in the chest. Then there was a flurry of fists while Ethan and Derrick punched at each other. Hits went back and forth, some knocking Ethan silly but the two continued to hold onto each other as they hit and rolled around, pushing each other into lockers and the wall when they got back to their feet. Ethan knew it was wrong, it wasn't something that they were supposed to do as rangers but he was tired of this, he needed to prove he wasn't going to sit back and allow himself to be bullied anymore.

And it felt great. Every punch he landed on Derrick was the best feeling in the world. He wasn't just a nerd. He was a ranger. A power ranger. Part of the team that was dedicated to protecting the city and the world. If that meant he had to protect himself first, he was going to do that.

Then there was the sudden sound of angry footsteps heading their way.

"WHAT'S GOING ON!?"

Principal Randall's voice caught their attention. Ethan immediately let go of Derrick and the two backed away from each other to look at her. She glared back at them with the ferocity of the Tyrannodrones that Ethan faced on nearly a daily basis, chest heaving up and down. Ethan wiped blood off his cheek and took stock of his own clothes, his shirt was ripped at the sleeve, his stomach burned from a punch he received, and there were new holes in his jeans. Derrick looked worse for the wear, face black and blue and starting to swell.

Ethan couldn't help but start to smile. He'd done that against his bully. The little nerd that didn't know how to defend himself on a good day when he wasn't in—what they called it—'ranger mode'. How else were they able to keep their other lives a secret if they held their confidence over in their daily lives?

"Oh, I'm sure you won't be smirking once I expel you, Mr. James," Principal Randall snarled. That made Ethan's smile immediately fade. Expelled? All because he was trying to defend himself? Surely, by now others knew that he was being bullied by Derrick? How was it so bad that he was now just trying to defend himself? "You know we have a zero tolerance for bullying."

"What?" The yelp escaped Ethan's lips before he could stop it. " _I_ haven't been—"

"—Ethan's been bothering me for months, Principal Randall," Derrick murmured, holding his jaw. Ethan was sure he had broken it. It sounded like it was, though he didn't remember hitting Derrick in the face like that.

"That's a lie!" Ethan gasped. "I haven't…I would never do that. _He's_ been bullying _me_. Principal Randall, I've never gotten so much as a detention—"

"—And yet, I seem to remember you were there the first day of the school year after your prank, Mr. James," Principal Randall said. Her eyes flashed behind her glasses, as if looking straight through him. "And yet Derrick hasn't been in trouble all year, who am I to believe?"

Ethan looked over at Derrick, who was now smirking at him. How was this happening? Then he looked at Devon, who was staring down at his video camera. "Principal Randall, Devon's got the whole thing on tape," he said. Devon, hearing his name mentioned, looked up, startled. Principal Randall and Derrick were both glaring at him, making him jump.

"Do you?" She snapped. "Do you have it on film?"

"I, uh, I'm not quite sure," Devon stammered. He took a step back. "I was just talking to Ethan about this game and—"

"—But you were here to see how this mess started?"

"I guess—"

"Give me that camera!" Principal Randall snatched the video camera from Devon's hands and navigated her way to the footage. She peered up over the rim of her glasses, keeping her eyes on Ethan and Derrick as the footage rolled along. Finally, she shoved the camera back into Devon's hands and curled her finger towards her. "Come with me." She walked the three to her office and Ethan got the biggest reaming of his life.

How violence was never the answer, how Derrick was going to end up as nothing more than a lowlife who worked at a gas station while losing his hair. How Devon was going to be the timidest person on the planet and needed to learn to stick up for himself—that made Devon get stuck in a stammering fit as he tried to defend himself—and that Ethan needed to do more than play computer games to keep from people picking on him. Then she kept Derrick in her office and sent Ethan and Devon away and continued to yell at him—loud enough to be heard through the door.

"Wow," Devon finally said when they were far enough away.

"I know," Ethan agreed.

"I've never seen you get so mad like that," Devon continued. "You really put a number on him. I don't think he'll be bullying anyone else." He reached out his hand and grabbed Ethan's, firmly and frantically shaking his hand up and down. "Good job, Ethan. I applaud you. You're the best." He continued shaking Ethan's hand before turning down an adjoining hallway to go to his locker.

Ethan walked back to his, finding Conner, Kira, and Bailey at their own locker. Of course they'd arrive at school after everything went down. Actually, it looked like Kira had some news that she wanted to share, her eyes as bright as he'd ever seen them. She practically bounced back and forth on her toes as Ethan arrived.

"You're not going to believe this, you're going to freak!" Kira cried. Ethan winced and brought a finger to wiggle in his ear. She practically screeched at him. Her voice was so loud that even Conner and Bailey's heads jerked back in surprise at her cry.

As he waited for the ringing to stop in his ears, Ethan studied her. The smile on her face was the biggest any of the rangers had ever seen. Wide enough that it almost scared everyone. Who knew Kira Ford could be so happy? Actually, there was one thing that could do it. Her music career. So, what was it about her music career that was freaking her out so much?

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Conner said. He held up his hand and looked Ethan up and down before pointing at him. "What happened to your face, dude?"

"Way to have tact, mate," Bailey said. She rolled her eyes. "I can't wait to see what you're like when you have a steady girlfriend. I bet you're the kind of bloke that'd say she was fat if she asked, right?"

Kira laughed. "I hope he learned his lesson after he tried that with Cassidy." She pulled her hair back from her face and laid her hand on Conner's shoulder. She peered into his face, fluttering her eyelashes teasingly. "How hard did it hurt when Cassidy slapped you across the face? Didn't she knock a filling lose?"

Conner rolled his eyes. " _No._ I had gotten hit during soccer practice that day, it was _already_ lose."

Now the rest of the rangers laughed. While they did, Ethan reached up to touch his face and winced. Wow, he hadn't realized how many hits he had actually taken from Derrick. Honestly, it couldn't be too bad. He healed faster than most because of his ranger powers. Still, he must've looked grotesque. Or maybe it was like a badge of honor. Devon had looked at him in a new light and if the faces of the students passing him said anything, maybe it was the truth.

"Actually, I, uh, I got into a fight with Derrick," Ethan explained.

Bailey's brown eyes shone with concern. "I hope you're okay, mate," she said.

"Well, Principal Randall caught us and said I'd be expelled, but Devon's camera proved that he was the one who attacked me." Ethan shrugged, sliding his hands into his pockets. He was trying so hard to downplay everything, despite the large smile that threatened to come to his face. "I might get a detention out of it, but I think we all know how fun detentions can be."

And then he was grinning. Smiling like a loon. He'd never felt so powerful before. That he was finally taking control of his own life. That he wasn't just the little nerd that sat back and let things happen to him. He was a Power Ranger and there were more important things they had to deal with than what was going on in high school. They could get past that if they tried hard enough.

"Well, I'm proud of you, dude," Conner said. He reached out and clapped Ethan on the shoulder, shaking him. "I don't think Derrick's going to be bothering anyone else for a while."

"You didn't use your powers though, did you?" Bailey asked. She suddenly wasn't smiling, chewing her lower lip. "Using your powers to escalate a fight that shouldn't be escalated isn't good." She looked away for a moment. "It can make you lose your powers."

"Whoa. Really?" Conner and Ethan asked at the same time.

Bailey nodded. "It's how Zack lost his powers. A long time ago."

"He escalated a fight?"

Suddenly, Bailey flushed, realizing what she said. She took a step back and glanced at her feet, then she lifted her chin and looked seriously at her friends. "Yes, he escalated a fight. But he did it to help one of his friends. It's a decision that he's not ashamed of, but it's a very serious one. It's something that we all have to think about, while being rangers. Are we willing to do anything to help those we care about?"

The mood had suddenly turned somber with her speech. Bailey looked each of the rangers in the eye, waiting for their nod of confirmation. Ethan didn't need to think about it. Yes, he was willing to do anything to protect his family and friends and even those he didn't particularly care about. He didn't like Derrick but he'd never wish ill-will on him. No one deserved to get hurt when they were all victims of aliens and monsters who suddenly came to their planet, to their city.

Bailey noticed the change in mood and took a deep breath. She turned back to Kira, her eyes lighting up in excitement and grabbed her arm. "I'm sorry, we interrupted you. You were excited to tell us something today." She reached out and grabbed Kira's arm, taking a step closer to her. "So, spill it! What's the big news?"

"Is it that she's finally going to get rid of the hideous way she dresses?" Cassidy asked as she and Devon walked over. She pushed Bailey out of her way to get to her locker, giving Kira a passing glance as she did so. "I mean, it's high school, we're graduating this year. You think by now you'd at least _try_."

Kira pressed her lips together and smirked back at Cassidy. She brushed her pigtails behind her ears, placed her hands on her hips. "Even _you're_ not going to ruin today, Cassidy," she said.

Intrigued, Cassidy raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Why's that?"

Kira smiled again. This time it was like she radiated the sun. She twisted back and forth, clasping her hands together as she twisted back and forth. If she were a little girl, Ethan was sure Kira would've grasped the ends of her pigtails and started to rock back and forth. "I got a call from a really big music manager, he wants to sign me and record one of my songs, do a video, and everything!"

"Ace!" Bailey cried immediately. She reached out and gave her friend a tight hug. "That's so exciting."

"Yeah, congratulations, Kira," Ethan added. He patted her on the shoulder as well. They were friends, but not close enough to give hugs. But then Conner reached over and gave her a tight, enthusiastic hug that surprised even Cassidy and Devon.

He must've realized what he was doing, though, for he quickly backed away and smoothed a hand through his hair. His cheeks blazed, eyes shifted back and forth while Kira seemed to pay not attention to it. Cassidy, on the other hand, her lips curled up at the same time her eyebrows rose and she nudged Devon on the side. Devon nodded back to her but didn't say anything in response.

"So, what does this mean?" Ethan asked. "When do you start to become a star?"

"Well, I have a meeting with the manager after school today. And things will go from there. There's a lot we need to talk about, the kind of sound I want, the kind of videos, making sure I get with the right recording company, writing songs…" Kira took a deep breath. "It's a lot, but I'm so excited. And Tanya said she'd help me out."

"Whoa, whoa!" Cassidy held up her hand. She blinked rapidly a few times. "Tanya? Tanya who?"

"Tanya Sloan."

" _You_ know Tanya Sloan?"

"Yeah," Conner agreed. He shrugged. "She's a good friend of Dr. O's. When we went on our…trip over Thanksgiving we got to know some of his old friends."

"It was a trip to take up the rest of our detention credits," Ethan quickly explained when he noticed the suspicious glance on Cassidy's face. But instead of reply, she made a face that was very much like one would make after sucking a lemon. Then she snapped at Devon and the two stalked away. Ethan sighed, shaking his head. Those two were always going to be so weird, there didn't seem to be anything that would change them. He turned back to Kira. "So, what about Trent? Have you told him?"

"Oh, he was there when the music manager contacted me," Kira explained. "I was checking out my email at the Cyber café—"

"This morning?" Conner interrupted. "Why would you be there so early?"

Kira glared at him. "Because Trent asked me to help him out. Hayley wanted him to set up for some meeting or event that's going on and Trent was going in early. I checked my email and he was there so I told him." She turned back to Ethan and Bailey. "Anyway, he's going to be out of school again, for the morning because of his lupus flareups. I said I'd give him the work he misses."

"We wouldn't want him to fall behind," Conner said.

Kira stopped on a dime and turned to Conner, crossing her arms. "What's your problem?" She demanded. "He's on our team, he's working to stop Mesogog. He's working on his powers. He's trying to _change_ and you won't let him."

Conner pressed his lips together and glanced at Ethan, who tried not to smile in response. He had a feeling Conner's irritation had nothing to do with Trent and everything to do with Kira. "Have you told your dad?" He asked, catching Kira and Ethan off-guard. "About your music."

Shifting uncomfortably, Kira said, "No, I haven't told him or mom yet."

"So what are you going to do? Finish school and go off and make your album without letting them know?" Conner mimed waving to someone down the hall and said, "Bye mom, bye dad, I'm going to live my dreams. That'll go over well."

"You don't think I can do it?"

"I don't think they'd take it well, is all."

Conner should've stopped while he was behind, Ethan realized. Because Kira's glare was seconds away from setting Conner's clothes on fire. Let alone actually killing him. If anything, she'd keep him alive long enough to torture him and then kill him when he least expected it. Instead, Kira huffed, her nostrils flaring and reached up a finger to jab into Conner's chest.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" She hissed. "Why don't you stay out of my business and leave me alone!"

The Yellow Ranger hooked her backpack over her shoulder and stalked down the hall. Bailey shook her head towards Conner and said, "Mate, you have to learn how to stop while you're behind." She gave him a meaningful look and added, "You taught me that," before hurrying after her friend.

Ethan stepped up to Conner's side, watching them leave.

"What's _their_ problem?" Conner asked.

Ethan wanted to roll his eyes. Wanted to shake his head. Wanted to grab Conner by the shoulders and shake him while he told him everything that was wrong with Conner's tactics to talk to Kira and help her. Instead, Ethan commiserated with him and said, "Girls," in solidarity.

It was the best thing he could come up with that wouldn't make Conner feel dumber than he already looked.

* * *

"You think we'll be able to get this new vehicle finished before the next time these guys have to go into battle?" Tommy asked.

Hayley shrugged, staring at her computer screen. She pulled he hair back behind her shoulders and said, "It's hard enough to utilize the surge of power from the new Triassic weaponry that Conner has, but now to work on this new vehicle? It's near impossible."

"So you can't do it?" Tommy asked.

"She didn't say that, Tommy," Billy remarked from Hayley's other side. "Just that it's going to take more time than we're used to. Not only are we upping the power capacity that is used when Conner morphs so that he can tap into the Triassic power at will, but it means we have to also further increase the power outputs of his weapons and the zords. It's a combination of three power ranger powers together, even more if yours, Ava's, and Bay's are added in as well."

"That's a good point," Tommy agreed. He pressed his hands to his hips. "We don't want to overpower him."

"I'm sure a little electric shock here and there wouldn't be too bad," Billy said. He gave a half smile, pushing back from his seat, polishing something meta in his hands. If Tommy had to guess, it was a piece of a zord. "Remember when we used to say the thing about Zack."

"Yeah, but that's because Zack didn't know when to shut up," Tommy pointed out, making the two laugh.

"Aren't you going to be late for work?" Billy then asked. He looked at his watch. "You have young minds to mold, remember?"

Tommy gave him a look and held out his arms, motioning towards his attire. The usual uniform of a dress blouse, brown slacks, and matching leather shoes. His glasses were perched on his nose to give off the academic look he'd been going for. "And what do you call this?"

"What I used to wear in the 90s," Billy pointed out. He grinned, mimicking Tommy's earlier stance of putting his hands on his hips. "Don't you have it as proof in that video diary thing? Our fashion sense was way off back then. It's only so much that Kimberly was able to help me until she left. But even she had some crazy choices."

"Don't let her hear you say that," Tommy joked.

"I won't," Billy agreed. He motioned towards the metal piece in his hand. "I'm going to replace this in the Tyranno zord and then I'll help Hayley even further with this new Triassic stuff. If our brains combined can't come up with the solution, I don't know what will."

"Thanks for that vote of confidence," Hayley said.

"You're very welcome."

Billy walked into the cargo hold that held the zords. They all made appreciate growls as he walked into the room. He hadn't been around to help things out with them lately but his efforts were certainly appreciated. There weren't many others that could spend their entire day working on them, to make sure they were up to standard and fixed as much as possible between battle. Hayley did her best, but she did own the Cybercafe, and then Tommy, Avalon, and Bailey were busy with school and their other work. Trini helped him out sometimes, but it was still a learning curve she was mastering.

But mechanics were always Billy's thing. His studies at MIT had done well enough to enforce that. His straight A's and continuous praise from professors and colleagues alike made it easy for him to move through things. But…if he had known how easily of a target it would make him, he didn't know if he would've left. They were always targets, they knew that. But to be the target of the one that was now trying to kill them. He would do anything to make sure his friends were safe but this was a difficult one to admit.

That he and Zeltrax were one and the same.

Finally, he'd admitted it. At least to himself. But there was always the moment after the transformation that made it hard to keep a grasp on reality, to remember what was specifically said. He was working hard, to figure out a way to separate himself from the entity. If what the rangers said was true, if Mesogog was really Anton…maybe he knew a way to save the both of them.

Billy stopped walking, feeling the sudden pain shoot through his stomach. It radiated down to his feet and back up to his head where a strong headache formed. No. Not again. Reaching out, Billy grabbed onto the nearest table by him. The zords all started to make mechanical grinding sounds, almost as if roaring their displeasure of what was taking place around them.

And still, Billy tried his hardest to hold on.

Once again, it didn't work.

 _Stop resisting,_ Zeltrax's voice hissed in Billy's mind. No, not his mind. It came out of his mouth. He could feel his lips moving along with the words. _You're not going to win._

"I'm not going…to let you…" Billy rasped, curling his fingers around the table. His hands started to shake sweat poured down his forehead. "I'm not!"

 _You have no choice. I can make it more painful for you. Stop resisting! GIVE IN!_

Billy cried out in pain and fell to the floor. His body seized and he twitched back and forth, working hard to fight against the powers that Zeltrax was exhibiting against him. But he felt his muscles relaxing. No. He was a goner. He wasn't going to win. Not this time. Zeltrax must've felt his resistance when on Eltar and worked hard to be stronger.

He couldn't win.

Billy closed his eyes and resigned to the passing of consciousness between them. Zeltrax replaced Billy on the floor and got to his feet when he heard Tommy's footsteps heading his way. He pulled out his sword and turned around, pointing it directly towards Tommy, who came to a screeching halt, seconds always from impaling himself on the sword.

Tommy's eyes narrowed in a glare. "Zeltrax," He growled.

"Dr. Oliver," Zeltrax replied.

"How'd you get in here?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Zeltrax twirled his sword in hand. Took a couple steps back to give Tommy a reprieve from the sword that was pointed his way. "Raise your sword. I'm not going to give up against you rangers until one of us is destroyed."

"Then I guess I'll have to be the one to take you down," Tommy said.

"How fitting. As you're the one who's managed to ruin everything you've touched, including the history of the power rangers."

Tommy faltered for a second. It didn't make sense. What would Zeltrax know about their history and even then, what would be the reason for Tommy being the one to blame? Instead of questioning it, Tommy continued to stand Zeltrax down. If it was a fight he wanted, it was a fight he was going to get.

"Your days are numbered, Black Ranger," Zeltrax said.

Tommy clenched his hands. "I seriously doubt that," he said. "We've faced worse things than you before, and we'll keep doing it." He pulled out his morpher. "Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha! Bracchio Power!"

Tommy morphed into the black ranger, tightly holding to his Bracchio staff. He and Zeltrax looked at each other for a long moment. Tommy flipped his Bracchio staff up into his hand. "Let's stop this, once and for all."

Zeltrax lifted his sword high and raced towards Tommy, with Tommy lifting his staff and running back at him. They clashed together in an extravagant show of power. Lightning shot between them, the energy wave knocking them both back. They fell to the ground and flipped back to their feet and charged once more. Swing for swing, hit for hit they were an even match for each other. But there was something Tommy was great at, that he incorporated into his fighting more than others knew. He watched.

Part of his martial arts training was watching and reacting to what his opponent was doing and then acting accordingly. It took some time to master, but he had been able to do it with everyone. He recognized all of his friends' fighting styles from the beginning and while they managed to trip him up time to time he understood the basis of it. It was how he and Jason were always so evenly matched. They understood how each other fought and had to work hard to be different.

That's what gave Zeltrax the upper hand at one point. Somehow, somewhere, Tommy had seen Zeltrax's fighting style. It was so familiar. Analytic and equally powerful when the time was right. Otherwise Zeltrax worked to slow Tommy down, to wear him out. Taking him down to his weak points before fighting.

 _I've seen it somewhere before,_ Tommy thought. _But where?_

It'd been so long. It was in the back of his head but he couldn't quite completely figure it out. It was like the sun was getting ready to shine light on the situation but was still coming up over the horizon. Getting to its full brightness but still moving very slowly.

And so they continued to fight. All until Tommy felt himself starting to weaken. No matter what elemental power that he threw from the Bracchio Staff or fancy footwork he used, he was losing. Zeltrax had watched him long enough as well, to know how he worked.

He knew all of Tommy's weaknesses and was exploiting it.

Zeltrax kicked Tommy hard in the chest and he felt back along the ground. He looked up as Zeltrax walked his way, holding his sword high overhead. His eyes bore down towards the black ranger, smoldering with rage. "This is the end of Dr. Tommy Oliver."

"Shift into Turbo! Wind Chaser, Turbo Power!"

Kat, who had been upstairs in the kitchen, heard the commotion from below. She raced to the basement and saw Hayley racing across the floor of the lab towards her, meeting her halfway from her flee. Hayley grabbed onto Kat's shoulders. "It's Zeltrax, he's gotten in."

"What?" Kat asked. "How?" Her heart hammered against her ribcage. She could hear Zeltrax and Tommy fighting hard, could hear their sounds of their bodies hitting the floor and the walls of the lab.

"I'm not sure, but I need to lock down the programs," Hayley explained. "If Zeltrax gets into them and gets the information back to Mesogog, we'll be in deep trouble."

Kat nodded and raced further into the lab. She didn't hesitate to morph. The second her Turbo suit came around her, she summoned her weapon. "Turbo Wind Fire!" She crouched low and shot a barrage of pink energy blasts into Zeltrax.

Zeltrax cried out and backed away from Kat. But she chased after him, holding her turbo weapon in front of her. Then, when she was close enough, she lowered her weapon and proceeded to lay waste on him. He wasn't used to Kat's fighting style. It wasn't as strong as Tommy's, she didn't study martial arts as much a she did, but she was graceful and light on her feet, able to bend and duck out of the way.

Her dancing in London had certainly given her the training that was needed to continue to be a skillful ranger. But it didn't hold up too long. Zeltrax started to understand her movements and counter-attacked, knocking Kat off-balance until she had to flip out of the way.

Tommy got up and stood in front of her.

He held out his staff as it started to glow with a steady pulse of energy.

"This is your last chance to stop this," he warned.

Zeltrax clenched his fist. "I'll never stop." But he didn't sound convinced. As far as Tommy could tell—and Kat, considering she turned at the same time to look at him—he sounded pained. As if it was something he was being forced to do. Then the intensity was back seconds later, but the reprieve had been enough.

Tommy'd seen past his shell.

"Then I'm sorry." And Tommy truly was sorry. Sorry that this continued to work out the way it was. Sorry that it didn't seem like their battle with Mesogog was going to end anytime soon. "But you leave me no choice."

Tommy swung his energized staff down. Zeltrax followed with an energized swing of his sword. The weapons combined and there was a blast of energy that shot through the room so bright and so powerful that Tommy and Kat were immediately de-morphed and Zeltrax was nowhere in sight when it faded.

Kat blinked open her eyes and fell to her knees by Tommy's side. She pulled him onto his lap. "Tommy? Can you hear me?" She asked of the love of her life.

But Tommy didn't answer.

His eyes were closed, he was breathing, but he didn't answer.

* * *

"They want you to speak in court," Jason said, lowering the paper from his face. "This could be something as big as being a criminal informant of some sort, or to actually just get your take on what happened with the Vipers." He handed the paper back to Avalon who folded it and tucked it in the pocket of her jeans before grabbing her hot chocolate to take a sip.

The last thing she needed was any sort of caffeine from coffee or else she'd run around having to punch something. As it was, she was hardly able to sit still. Her knees bounced up and down, her eyes shifted around the patrons eating breakfast in the restaurant, and practically bolted out of her seat whenever the bell above the door rang.

As it was, she forced herself into the most uncomfortable seat at the table to keep her eyes on the entrance. It'd been ten years, by now she should've been able to relax. She _had_ been able to relax when it was just ranger duties that needed her attention. The Vipers always brought out the best and worst in her; her resilience but also the most amount of paranoid fear she'd ever felt.

"Do you still have the brass knuckles Chase gave you?" Jason continued to ask.

Avalon gave him a funny look. "Of course I do, they're mine."

"If he gave them to you—"

"No, I mean, literally, they're mine." Avalon sighed, shaking her head. She tilted her head back to glance at the ceiling. She thought back to the last time she'd seen any of them, when she got the rest of them sent to jail from her trap. She and Billy had been on a date and they'd shown up at the pool hall. She always felt bad about that date, she didn't warn him about it beforehand nor did she ever truly explain it afterwards but he'd taken it all in stride and understood it to be something she'd speak about when needed. "It was the only weapon I had while with the Vipers, otherwise I'd use my fists." She paused and looked at Jason. "Do you think they'd need it as evidence during the trial?"

"If that were the case, why would he give it back to you?" Trini asked.

Kimberly thought for a moment. "To frame her. If it was used in a recent crime scene." She turned to Jason, tilting her head as she lifted her eyebrows. "Do you think that's what they were doing?"

Jason hesitated. "I wouldn't know for sure. I'd have to ask my dad. More than likely he'd be the lawyer that'd be assigned to your case."

"I don't need a lawyer, Jase, I just need this to, finally, be over," Avalon remarked. She lifted an eyebrow. "Whether from the trial, stepping on them in a zord, or punching them in the fucking face, I don't care. I just want it done."

"Does she _have_ to speak at the trial?" Trini asked.

Zack nodded, rubbing his chin with his left hand, the right one hanging behind his seat, resting on the back of Trini's. "When it comes to gang affiliation and a trial is set up, you have to. They're trying to get all the gang members off the street. If they can do that by having someone who was in the gang speak about it, then that's better for them."

"What happens to the person that speaks?" Kimberly asked.

Zack leveled his gaze at her. "That depends on how the gang wants to retaliate. If they decide to do it. And a gang of this caliber—"

"They're going to do it," Avalon broke in. Her eyes narrowed for a moment. The only thing she couldn't quite figure out was whether Chase truly wanted her to take the fall for them. He'd been out of jail for a while, had said he was trying to get out of the life too, wanted to make sure she was out. But…if there was one thing Chase was good at doing, it was lying.

She'd fallen for it many times before and unless he figured out a way to do it better, blackmail was always going to be his vice. That and physically beating the other into submission until they didn't have a choice but to obey. Reaching up a hand, Avalon pressed her fingers to the scar on her cheek; the very same that Chase had given her during one of her more brutal beatings. Then she lowered her hand to the Dino Gem that sat in her wrist.

This was getting ridiculous.

It needed to end, _now._

"Are you going to say anything to the others?" Trini asked. Avalon could hear the gentleness to her tone. She knew how hard it was for her to continue to speak about it. As much as the orange ranger joked about her time in the Vipers, it was still something that still didn't sit well with her.

"I'll tell Bay, of course, she'll probably be asked some questions, too, but for the others…" Avalon trailed off. "They already think I'm trying to kill them when we're training, they'd probably have a fucking conniption if they knew it were true." She smiled at her own joke despite knowing how unfunny it truly was.

She exchanged a glance with Zack, knowing he knew exactly what she meant. That was something they needed to speak about, too. What had happened with Zack and how he was dealing with everything. Clearly he hadn't gone through the same issues or else he'd be just as jaded as she was. But he continued to be the loveable Zack Taylor that was the life of the party despite his experiences.

 _Or maybe he has just as much to hide,_ Avalon thought. She immediately thought about to the trial that Dulcea had put her through and pushed it from her mind. It was over now. No need to dwell.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Jason warned her.

"Oh, I mean, it's a great idea to walk up to a bunch of kids that you're mentoring and add 'by the way, for the past ten years or so I've been constantly looking over my shoulder to see if there'd be a bloody gun point in my face'!"

Zack lifted an eyebrow. "Why would the gun be bloody?" He joked.

Avalon gave him a withering look and the group around them laughed. No, she knew she had to tell them truth. To tell _Bailey_ the truth. It had been long enough since her last encounter with them, how hard could it be now? It seemed that the more the Vipers came back the harder it was to force the words out of her mouth.

Monsters, she could handle.

When the _humans_ were the monsters, that was harder.

Avalon's phone rang in her pocket. She looked at the name on the screen, freezing for a moment when she saw it was Billy, then answered the phone. "Hey, Billy. What's going on?" She paused, hearing the explanation on the other side. "Okay, we're on our way."

"What's going on?" Zack asked.

But he, Jason, Trini, and Kimberly were already on their feet, moving to work out the price of the food they hadn't eaten yet. When it was ranger duties, they all had a sixth sense about it and tended to know when it needed to be tended to.

"Tommy's in a coma," she replied.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey guys, I'm back! Not only have I been working on my _Powerless_ series with my new story (Trini-centered) _I'm Home_ , but I've also been out of town at a funeral for a short while. So, thank you all for being so patient with me while I got things in order and took some time to myself. I hope this chapter was enough for you to enjoy after my lengthy absence.

Thanks to **XoxMountainGirlxoX** for the idea of Trent's lupus as well as ideas for other rangers in the _Powerless_ series. Also, if you enjoy _Girl Meets World,_ check out her GMW story _Girl Meets Chronic._ It's a great story so far.

Thanks to **Adela, Ashley, TerraHart, and brankel1** for reviewing.

 **~Av**


	41. Chapter 41: Green With Guilt V

**Chapter 41**

 _Green With Guilt V_

* * *

"Tommy?" Trini called.

Kimberly then leaned over her friend's prone body, placing her mouth close to his ear. "Tommy! Can you hear us?" She sat back and shook her head, looking up at her friends. "What's going on, what happened to him?"

Jason reached over and placed his hand on Kimberly's shoulder, gently shaking it. "He's going to be okay, Kim."

"Yeah, this is Tommy we're talking about, he can make it through anything," Trini agreed. Yet, she chewed her lower lip in worry, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth. She turned back to Hayley, who was standing by the medical equipment, gazing over the numbers that were being read out with Billy by her side. "What happened, Hayley?"

"Zeltrax appeared and they were fighting," Kat explained. She sat dutifully by Tommy's side, his hand clasped between hers. She gently rubbed the skin with her fingertips, looking at her boyfriend in concern. "I tried to stop the fight but he was really strong. When they crossed their swords there was a blast of energy that knocked him out and Zeltrax disappeared. He was like this when we found him."

"Do you think it might be a overload of power that's knocked him out?" Avalon asked. She looked down at her brother, eyebrows furrowed together. Otherwise her face was blank of any emotion. "Zeltrax is someone we haven't been able to defeat. If Mesogog is using him, then this is why."

"So, his plan is to send us all into comas?" Zack asked her, lifting a curious eyebrow. "I don't know, Kid, that seems like the _worst_ plan in the history of plans. Especially when he could probably destroy us outright."

"If Zeltrax _or_ Elsa could've destroyed us outright, they would've done it by now, mate," Avalon shot back. "What I mean is, the output of their powers may have overridden his system of the power that we're used to, yeah?" She nodded towards his wrist. "His Dino Gem is broken."

Jason reached over and picked up Tommy's wrist. He twisted the silver braceleted his way and studied the black gem that sat inside. Under the light, everyone could see that the gem was indeed split down the middle and broken into three pieces. As Jason turned his wrist, the pieces fell out and tumbled to the cushion of his bed. He shook his head and lowered Tommy's wrist once more.

"Broken," he reported.

"The override of power could've easily set him into a coma, yes," Billy said. "The human generally tends to go into a coma with head trauma or disturbances in the brain's circulatory system. It is considered a defense mechanism as shutting down function in the brain gives time for it to heal without the body performing radical triage by shutting off blood flow to damaged sections." He turned away from the medical equipment and gazed at his friend, sadness coming to his blue eyes. "We won't know the extent of the damage until he comes out."

"You mean he's not going to…?" Kat asked.

"No, he's not going to die," Billy said calmly. "Though, I can't be certain of how long he'll be in this state."

"Medical readings say he's otherwise fine," Hayley agreed. "But like Billy said, we won't know the extent of the damage until he wakes up." She brushed her hair behind her shoulders. "Considering this involves his ranger powers makes it even harder to figure out."

"So, we're just supposed to sit here and wait?" Kat asked.

"It's the best thing we can do for him," Jason agreed. "We can't go running out there and put ourselves in the same kind of danger. If the same could happen to us, we can't risk it." He turned to look at Avalon, who's eyes widened in reply. Her gaze shifted back and forth as if to ask 'what are you looking at me, for?'. "You've been a ranger longer than the rest of us and as far as I can tell, in this situation, Tommy would want you to be the one to make the decisions of what to do next."

"You know Conner is the leader of this team, right?"

"But right now, in terms of what to do with him, and who the other rangers can turn to as a mentor, you're it."

Avalon bobbed her head back and forth as she thought about it. He was right; she and Tommy had had the conversation many times before. They were the ones were solely responsible for what happened to Conner, Kira, Ethan, Trent, and Bailey as rangers. They were still learning how to work as a team let alone handle monsters on their own.

Avalon nodded. "Right now, we need to work on getting Tommy out of this coma, watching his brain pattern to see if there's anything in there that'll let us know he's still with us."

"Well, let's be honest here, has he ever really _had it_?" Zack joked. He started to laugh uproariously then cut it off into a cough when he noticed everyone else was glaring at him. "Sorry, I was just…trying to lighten the mood a little bit. You know I'd do anything for Tommy when the time comes. He's always done everything he could for us. We need to do the same for him."

Jason nodded.

"So, what do we do first?" Trini asked Avalon.

"First, we need to tell the others what's going on," Avalon decided. "Then we need to see if there's anything we can do to get Tommy out of his coma, save for sticking him with a bunch of pins in his heel." She reached up and scratched the back of her neck. "Bay and I tried that once and he wasn't very perceptive to it."

"He didn't wake up?" Kimberly asked. She let out a low whistle. "I knew he had tough feet but—"

"—No, he tried to kill us," Avalon interrupted. She smiled a little and looked down at Tommy once more, reaching out her hand to pat his knee. "Don't worry, bro, we're going to get you out of this."

* * *

Tommy winced, reaching up to feel the back of his head. As his fingers grazed over a knot, he winced even harder, practically curling up into a ball. Whatever he had hit his head on had split it wide open. Even pulling his fingers from behind his head made him hurt. Fresh blood poured down his fingers, of which he hastily wiped away. He slowly pulled himself up into a sitting position, coughing as the red swirls of dirt dusted around him.

Squinting, Tommy brushed even more of the red dust off his arms and legs. He scanned his surroundings. Nothing but red dust and clay rock formations standing around. Actually, it looked a little familiar. Not quite like what he'd seen on Phaedos or Eltar, but something that tickled the back of his mind. He'd definitely seen it somewhere before. Finally, Tommy got to his feet and looked over at the space around him.

There was nothing with him but the sand and the dry, dry sun that continued to beat down around him. Tommy opened his mouth to say something then stopped, coughing. His throat was drier than it'd ever been before. He cleared his throat then tried again. "Hello?" Tommy called.

His voice echoed for a few seconds before finally coming to a stop. Nothing shouted back to him. As a matter of fact, his voice faded away so quickly that he felt his heart lower towards his stomach. The vastness of the space meant there was no one else around. His ranger sense were tingling and that wasn't a good thing. It was one thing he leaned a long time ago; you never ignored what your ranger sense were telling. And right now, they were telling him that he was in deep trouble.

"Hello?" Tommy called again. He slowly stared to walk in the direction of the clay sculpture that looked like a entrance or doorway of some sort. There was nothing else for him to aim towards. "Is anyone there?!" His voice continued to echo. Tommy brought up his hand to wipe sweat from his forehead; it was already dripping down his face and back. The sun beat down around him, growing hotter by the second.

 _Bad time to be wearing black, Tommy,_ he thought. _You should've stuck with White._ He smiled a little at his own joke, then grew serious once more. If he was going to get out of this, he needed to get out of the heat. He looked around the landscape, his eyes always drawing back to the doorway. "Where is this place?" He murmured. "It looks so familiar."

Tommy looked away from the doorway for a moment. Only for a moment, long enough to wipe even more of the stinging, blinding sweat away from his eyes. When he looked back, he stopped in his tracks. "No," he whispered to himself. "It's not possible."

"Oh, it's possible," his companion replied.

Tommy wiped at his eyes. Rubbed them as hard as he could, stars exploding in front of his vision. No, it wasn't a mirage, it wasn't a hallucination of any sort. It was real. The Red Zeo Ranger stood in front of him. But how was it possible when _he_ was the red Zeo Ranger? Tommy reached out and pressed a hand to his chest. He could feel himself, he certainly was still alive.

"Hello, Tommy," The Red Zeo Ranger said. Dust kicked up around his feet as he walked down the slope towards Tommy. "You remember me? Zeo Ranger 5." Tommy continued to stare back at him. Slowly, subconsciously, he brought his hands up into fists, lowering into a fighting stance. "Don't tell me you've forgotten already."

"That's impossible," Tommy breathed.

The Red Zeo Ranger continued to walk towards him, not breaking stride. "Oh, it's very possible." He came to a stop a few feet away from Tommy. The sunlight reflected off his helmet, but Tommy still couldn't see inside, couldn't see if it truly were him speaking to himself despite recognizing his own voice. "You brought me here. You were the one who decided to fight."

Tommy gritted his teeth. "I'm not going to fight you."

"Then you'll be destroyed," The Red Zeo Ranger said. "One of us has to be."

"What do you mean? That I brought you here?" Tommy wracked his brains, trying to figure it out for himself. He was fighting Zeltrax before everything went black. He didn't remember having had demanded to fight any other ranger. It was his desperation to take down Zeltrax that pushed him forward. Not anything that he was trying to figure out for himself. "What do you want?"

The Red Zeo Ranger didn't respond. Instead, he clenched his hands into fists, coming into a fighting stance himself. Tommy reached for his gem but found it wasn't there. "Huh?" His eyes widened in surprise when his fingers slid over the empty silver bracelet on his wrist. Then he turned back to The Red Zeo Ranger and clenched his hands into fists. If it was a fight he wanted, it was going to be one he got.

The Red Zeo Ranger must've decided the same for he shot forward at the same time Tommy started to move. They both started off by running forward and doing a high-jump kick. Tommy felt his leg connect with the Red Zeo Ranger's seconds before he was smacked to the ground. Dirt collected in his mouth as he slid forward. Tommy sputtered, spitting out as much dirt and rock as he could manage. Then he flipped around, bringing up his arms as the Red Zeo Ranger launched towards him once more.

With his quick move, the Red Zeo Ranger landed on his arms and Tommy pushed him back into the air. Then Tommy flipped back to his feet and found the Red Zeo Ranger had done the same. He watched him for a moment then raced forward once more. This time he tried a flurry of low kicks and punches that aimed more towards the stomach and the Red Zeo Ranger managed to deflect it.

 _Right, Tommy, this is you you're fighting against. You know everything that's going to come your way._

The Red Zeo Ranger backed away, lowering his hands. "This fight…it's a fight you've been doing for a long time. Once you come to terms with what it is you're trying to deflect, then you'll understand what you have to do."

Tommy gritted his teeth, watching the Red Zeo Ranger. What was that supposed to mean? Instead of asking for an answer, Tommy shot forward and started to attack again. Punch, kick, flurry, anything that would take his opponent off-guard. The Red Zeo Ranger did all the same moves in opposition, the two easily stalemating each other. It went on and on until the Red Zeo Ranger finally backed away from Tommy.

He lifted a finger and pointed towards Tommy. "I see you got a lot of fight left in you, but is it enough?"

"Wait!" Tommy held out a hand to stop him. He was tired of the one-liners and mysteriousness of the situation he was currently in. He needed answers and he needed them now. "What are you talking about?"

But the Red Zeo Ranger clearly didn't get the memo. Instead, he dropped his arm to his side and turned his back on Tommy, teleporting away. Tommy ran to stop him but decided to against it. He wasn't going to catch up on foot, he didn't know how far the Red Zeo Ranger had gone, and most importantly…

He didn't know how long he was going to go on without being able to use his ranger powers.

"So, when are you supposed to go meet this big shot music producer?" Bailey asked after school that day. She pushed her milkshake away from her and leaned back in her seat across from Kira. The two sat on the outdoor patio of a restaurant near the school. They could've gone to the Cybercafé, but Kira insisted they go somewhere that didn't have anyone they knew.

Kira shrugged in reply. "it was a music manager," she corrected. She passed her own milkshake back and forth between her hands. "I'm not sure, he says to keep writing songs and he'll stay in touch. I guess he wants to see that I'm really serious about this." She chuckled. "I've never been more serious about anything in my life."

Bailey watched as Kira pulled her pigtail behind her ear. Again. And again. And again. Narrowing her eyes a little, Bailey noticed Kira's hand shaking. Then the purple ranger smiled a warm smile. "You're really nervous about this, yeah?" She pointed out. "Kira, I've watched you perform at the Cybercafé a million times. You're awesome. Ace. Beauty even."

"I'm sure those are all good things," Kira said.

Bailey giggled. "Yes, they are."

"Well, thank you. But I mean, what if he meets me in person and he doesn't think I'm good enough?"

"He already signed you, didn't he?"

"No, he said he _wants_ to sign me," Kira corrected. She looked at her hands, drumming them into the table. Then she lifted her gaze and leaned towards Bailey. "What if he sees me and decides not to sign? Then what'll I do? I mean, I have to do the SATs and all that, but, I don't know, college isn't for me. I _know_ it's not. I'll probably die there."

"You know they have programs for music, right?" Bailey asked. She crossed her legs at the knee and looked around at everyone else who was at the restaurant. Some older people, some younger people, some their age. And they all looked like they were having a good time. How funny it was that everyone could do so when her own world seemed to be falling apart by the day.

Being a ranger was hard, she already knew that. But having her friends, her _family_ attacked wasn't as easy as anyone thought it would be. No matter how long your tenure as a ranger was, it wasn't easy to know how close to death each and every one was. Bailey could hardly pay attention in school when finding out what had happened to Tommy. She was initially tipped off when there was a substitute for their class, then Principal Randall had called her into explain what was going on.

"Mr. Oliver has had an emergency and needed to stay home from school. I don't expect it to affect you in any way as we are an institution of education not our own personal tragedies."

Bailey left the office and then went a secluded area of the school—which ironically—was a nearby locker bay. She pulled her morpher up to her mouth and asked what was going on. Kat explained what was going on with Tommy and Bailey felt herself grow numb. She went to the rest of the rangers to tell them what was going on then went along with the rest of her day. Quite like a zombie, if she were honest. She didn't remember anything of what was taught. Not that it mattered so much, a quick flip through her books and she'd be up to speed. As it was, she could've graduated already.

There were many opportunities for her to skip grades but she refused to do so, not wanting to alienate herself even further than her smarts already did. She could only go so long without having a friend and Fred was certainly the first and best one she had before meeting this set of rangers.

"Yeah, but learning music theory has never been my thing," Kira said. She twisted her mouth to the side. "It just so…boring compared to working on stage. And, I guess Conner was right."

"That'd be a first," Bailey remarked.

Kira smiled at her joke. "About my mom and dad…they're not very supportive about my music choices. Or even about the way I dress or anything else I do, really. So...I just, do it anyway. It's me and if they can't handle it, then that's their fault. But at the same time, it's hard to not want them to be proud of me even a little." Bailey smiled to herself, tried to hide it by covering her mouth with her hand, but failed. Kira noticed and looked away from her friend, blinking rapidly. "I didn't think it was _that_ funny—"

"No, no. I'm not laughing at you, Kira, I swear." Bailey finally managed to compose herself. "I promise, I'm not laughing at you. It's just…your situation is kind of aggro, and, you remind me of Av." She thought for a moment, trying to figure out the right thing to say. "She had a bad habit of rebelling against people for things she thought was right and it got her into some trouble. That streak…your not wanting anyone to get close to you just reminds me of her. I reckon it's kind of funny." Her smile faded. "But your music career…that's not something to laugh at. You're taking it very seriously and I can tell, it's going to happen to you. You're really talented, Kira. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

"Thanks." Kira gave a grateful smile. And Bailey's pep-talk seemed to work for she sat up straight and her eyes finally lit up once more. She was slowly getting back to herself. Then she looked at Bailey with a concerned expression. "You know…I'm sorry for what's happened to Dr. O."

Bailey's face screwed up in confusion. Then it cleared and she nodded. _Oh, yeah. Right._ "It's okay, he gets into scrapes like this all the time and comes out on the other side okay." She shrugged. "He'll bounce back from this, too."

"I know, but I'm being really selfish talking about all of my problems when he's…when he's in trouble," Kira said. "He's helped us out so many times and now we can't do anything to help him."

"He'll come out of this, Kira, I promise," Bailey said. She rolled her eyes. "Tommy is one of the few people I know that can laugh in the face of danger. His idea of being hurt is nothing compared to the idea of other people being hurt. And as annoying as it is, he's the one that continuously lets us know that things are going to be okay no matter what happens. We just have to think the same for him."

Kira smiled. "You must think very highly of him."

"He's my brother, of course I do."

"Well, that's something else I wanted to ask you about. But, I wasn't quite sure…" Kira lowered her voice, leaning forward. "You said before that you were adopted."

Bailey nodded.

"But you also said you're Australian. And you speak with a very heavy accent, so you must've been there for a while before you were. So, how did his family know about you guys to be adopted?"

That question stumped her for a minute. Honestly, she was surprised it had. Bailey knew this question was going to come at some point. She'd had so many ways she was going to explain their situation, but nothing ever seemed to be a good way without revealing too much. "Av and I were adopted by his parents not too long ago. I was about…12 or so when his parents took us in." She licked her lips. "We were living in Angel Grove at the time."

"But how…I mean, what happened to your mom and dad?"

"They gave up their parental rights to us."

The reveal seemed to have stunned Kira. Her eyes widened and she stared at Bailey. Bailey chewed her lower lip. _Av's going to kill me,_ she thought. Honestly, she didn't know why it was kept a secret now, too many people knew about their past. But then again, it linked into them being rangers so intricately that it was hard to reveal something without revealing too much. There were too many different factors to think about.

"W-what, I-?"

Kira was cut off by a sudden shock wave that knocked her and Bailey to of their chairs and across the patio of the restaurant. Bailey's arms and legs flailed as she arched through the air before hitting the ground hard. With a groan of pain, Bailey rolled to the side and looked up to see where Kira was. She laid next to her, pushing herself up into a crouching position.

"You okay?" Bailey called to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Kira called back. "You?"

Bailey nodded. The two got off the ground and looked around to see where the commotion was coming from. It didn't take them too long to see a large, white dinosaur laughing maniacally as he shot blasts of energy back and forth. Elsa stood by his side, flinging her whip back and forth across the street. It cracked against the skin of those who were trying to run away, ripping their skin open and letting the blood flow.

Bailey and Kira looked at each other before racing out from their hiding spot. "Hey!" Bailey shouted.

Elsa turned towards the two and cracked her whip against the ground. She snarled towards the two. "Finally, you decide to show your faces. I bet you're ready to get taken down for good this time."

"We'll see about that," Kira said.

Elsa grinned her evil grin. "I'll be glad to watch." She nodded towards the monster behind her. "Show em' what you got, Terrorsaurus."

The White Terrorsaurus Monster took a few steps towards them, holding up his claws menacingly. Bailey and Kira exchanged glances and nodded at each other. "Dino Thunder! Power up! Ha!"

"Ptera!" Kira called, morphed.

"Cephala!" Bailey called, morphed.

"Dino Power!" They called in unison before racing into battle.

Bailey ducked out of the way as Terrorsaurus shot his claw towards her head. She crouched down on the ground and stuck out her foot, sweeping his out from beneath her. Kira followed, holding onto her Ptera grips and flew towards the monsters. She landed on him, slashing him with her daggers. Then the front of the Terrorsaurus glowed red and a beam of electricity shot out. It struck Kira in the chest and she went flying backwards, crashing to the ground.

Bailey stood up and pulled back her arm. Her fist glowed purple. "Cephala Punch!" She punched him hard in the face. Terrorsaurus backed away and sent a jolt of red lightning into her. Bailey felt all of her senses shut down in that instant, though could hear her scream ring through her ears seconds before she went flying. She landed hard on the ground on her back, staring at the ceiling. Her fingers twitched from the overload of energy that stuck her, but found herself otherwise unable to move.

"Ha ha ha!" Elsa threw her head back and laughed. "And he's just toying with you. I can't wait to see what else he can do!"

"You're still going to wait." Ethan's voice rang out as he and Conner shot by on their Raptor Cycles. Lasers shot from their raptor cycles as they shot past. Conner leapt off the side of his raptor cycle and landed on the ground in a crouch. "Tyranno Staff!" He summoned his weapon and charged towards Terrorsaurus.

"At least, just the one I wanted to see!" Terrorsaurus held up his hand and a large energy blade appeared. He swung hard and struck the ground, immediately causing it to explode. Conner went flying back through the air and landed on the ground in a crouch. Terrorsaurus followed up his attack with another blast of energy from the gem on the front of his chest.

It sent Conner even further away.

"Fire!" Trent called. Morphed into the White Dino Ranger, he used his ATV to shoot lasers at the monster all before getting caught up in one of its blasts.

"Trent!" Kira and Ethan cried as he fell.

Trent rolled off his ATV, the vehicle skidding into a nearby store front.

Bailey, finally regaining feeling in her hands and feet, pulled herself back to her feet. Then a whip wrapped around her neck and she was pulled towards Elsa. "How does it feel to have all of the power and not able to win?" Elsa hissed in her ear.

"I wouldn't know," Bailey replied. She leaned backwards, lifting her feet off the ground. Then she dropped down once more and flipped Elsa over her shoulder and off her neck.

* * *

Back in the lab, Tommy's friends all continued to stand around him, watching to see if anything changed. As soon as the news bulletin came onto their screens, they turned their attention to watch as the Terrorsaurus started to attack.

"We can't just sit here," Kimberly said. "We have to do something."

"I'm going to go down there and help," Avalon declared. She pushed herself away from Tommy's side. With a twist of her wrist, her Dino Morpher appeared. "You lot stay here."

"What?" Trini cried. "You can't do that." She gestured towards the screen where Elsa wrapped her whip around Bailey's neck and grabbed her. "That monster is stronger than anything we've gone up against, you can't go alone."

"And you think I want all of you to get destroyed, no way." Avalon turned back to her friends. "What we need to focus on at this point is getting Tommy out of that coma. With the Triassic power, they may be able to take this guy down. Tommy wouldn't want the rest of you guys to get hurt over him."

"Av, what you're doing is reckless and dangerous," Jason said.

She smirked at him. "Since when have I ever done anything that didn't hold a sense of danger to it?" She asked.

"She's got a point," Zack said.

Jason glared at him. Zack held up his hands defensively and turned away. Jason let out a long sigh and turned back to Avalon, his eyes flickering back and forth from his friend to the screens behind him. "At least let one of us come with you. We have our powers, we can help."

"We don't know how long your powers will last, you only _just_ got them back from Dulcea," Avalon replied. "How do we know that it won't suddenly detract when in the middle of a fight?" Jason glared at Zack once more, waiting for him to agree with her again. This time Zack pulled his finger across his lips as if zipping them.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Kimberly and Trini both laughed. Avalon took a step back and pressed her finger to the side of her morpher. She teleported out of the lab in a blast of orange light.

"You all do realize one day she's going to get herself killed, right?" Billy asked, though there was a smile of pride on his face.

"I noticed that since we met her," Zack pointed out. He mimed pressing a gun to the side of his head and pulled the trigger. "Do you know how many headaches I got because of her?"

"Yeah," Kimberly said. "But we'd do the same." With that, she sat down in an empty seat at the computers. She scanned the controls for a minute before leaning towards a microphone that was set up and said, "Don't worry guys, you have the rest of us here to help you out. You're not alone in this."

"Do you have any ideas?" Conner asked, his voice muffled from being thrown around. "Anything that'll show us how to take this guy down?"

"Not yet," Jason said. "But just because we haven't seen anything yet doesn't mean we won't figure things out. Hang in there."

"What are we going to do about Tommy?" Kat asked. She stood up from Tommy's side, her hand dropping form his. "Is there anything we can do to neutralize the power inside him?"

"Well, I've thought about that," Hayley said. "But the problem is, the only thing that would be strong enough to do so would be another gem or crystal that has the same or similar properties as a Dino Gem. Avalon is using hers and so are the others. But what if there was another source of power that was strong enough to duplicate the power signature of the dino gem."

"Like one of our Power Coins?" Trini asked. She reached down and ran her fingers over the raised bumps of her Saber-Tooth Tiger coin. It flashed yellow beneath her fingertips. "Do you really think it'd work?"

"The Power Coins may be a little too low on the power we need," Billy said. He shook his head, turning away from the visual screens and back to his friends. Reaching up, he ran his fingers over his chin, tapping his lips as his blue-green eyes shot back and forth in thought. "But we could use the Zeo Crystal."

Kat looked down at the communicator on her wrist. She shook it back and forth and it changed into her Zeo Morpher. Placing her hand atop of it, it glowed pink and when she brought her hand away, a long, thin crystal appeared in her hand. It shone from white to pink repeatedly. "You really think the Zeo Crystal can help him?"

"The Zeo Crystal was created to continue its increase in power and strength as time went on," Billy explained. "From how long the crystals were in use before the Turbo powers were needed, it should hold a similar sense of power."

"What about its synchronicities?" Jason asked.

Kimberly's nose wrinkled. "Synchro-what?" She leaned back to look at him. "Don't tell me, you've been snooping through Billy's science journals?"

Jason gave a wry smile, then leveled his gaze at Billy. "I mean, what about its power signature? Down to the molecular level."

"As long as it's one of the powers that were continually enhanced by its connection to the Morphing Grid, it should be okay," Hayley explained. She reached out her hand and Kat hesitantly handed her Zeo Crystal over.

"What does that mean for her being able to morph?" Trini asked. She hovered by Kat's side, watching the exchange with growing concern.

"As long as she' swithin read of the Crystal, she can still morph," Billy reassured her. "The powers of being a ranger were given to us and we've proven time and time again that we don't need all of the gadgets to access the power. It just makes it that much eaiser."

"If it'll save Tommy, the let's do it," Kat said.

Kimberly looked at her successor, eyebrows lowering .She reached out and grabbed onto Kat's hand, squeezing it firmly in her grasp. "Kat, are you sure/"

"Yeah, I am." She nodded.

Kimberly nodded back.

Hayley took the Pink Zeo Power Crystal and walked it over to Tommy. She carefully laid it across his palm, curling his lifeless fingers over it, then pressed the pointed end down towards his wrist, where his black Dino Gem had sat before.

A current rolled over the crystal and to his wrist.

Billy watched the transfer with rapt attention then suddenly leaned forward, reaching out to grab his stomach. His eyes widened as a low, guttural moan came from his lips.

 _You're not going to defy me!_ Zeltrax's voice roared through his head. _I'm in control. I'm going to be the one who takes down the rangers and you can't stop me!_

"Billy?" Zack was immediately at his side, holding him up. "Are you okay, man?" Billy closed his eyes, pushing down as much of the pain as he could. He could feel Zeltrax's grasp repeatedly loosening and gaining strength. But Billy continued to hold on as hard as he could. "Billy!"

Billy finally nodded, taking a step back. He felt Zeltrax slowly flowing away once more and straightened himself back up. He removed his grasp from the desk beside him and pushed himself up further. He sucked in a deep breath and nodded to Zack. "Yeah, I'm okay," he said.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine, Zack."

He had to be.

* * *

When Tommy opened his eyes again he found himself lying on the floor of a forest, white light glowing all around him. But as he stood up and stumbled a few seconds forward, the light didn't fade or diminish. It was a steady glow around him.

"This place looks familiar, too," Tommy said. It resembled both Eltar and Phaedos. Having been to both planets, he wondered what it was that was familiar about them to him. It didn't take long for him to realize it was the strength running through him that did it. How it was the sense of being a ranger that enveloped him.

It was then he realized the sound around him that was familiar as well. Low laughter. Low, almost demonic, cruel laughter. He heard whispers, sounds of his name being called. It wasn't just his voice he heard, he could his friends; Kimberly's, Jason's, Zack's, Trini's, Billy's, Avalon's, Bailey's…he hard the voices of his new team. All crying out for him, all calling for him. Needing his help, wanting his help. Anything so that he could save them from whatever torment was befalling them.

 _"Tommy!"_

Tommy stopped short. No. No, it wasn't possible.

 _"Tommy, it's me, son."_

"Dad?"

Tommy whipped around towards the voice. But instead of seeing his mother and father standing behind him, he saw the White Ranger coming his way. The White Ranger slowly stalked through the glowing forest, the shoulder blades of his shield glowing with dew drops. Saba rested in the holder at his hip, red eyes glowing, mouth wide open.

"I bet we're not in Reefside anymore," Tommy murmured to himself. There was no reason for the White Ranger to be there. He was already starting to figure out that he was in some other sort of dimension. Maybe one of the ones that Rita and Zedd used to send him and Jason to when they had the chance.

"Or Angel Grove," The White Ranger agreed. He looked Tommy up and down, nodding slowly. "I see you finally cut your hair, Tommy. How many times did your mother ask you to do it before you listened?"

The mentioned of his mother struck a chord in Tommy. He heard their voices again, the whispers around him. He closed his eyes as tightly as he could, trying to block them out. No, they were gone. They were dead. He knew that, he went to the funeral. It was his fault they were gone. His fault. He knew that, too.

Tommy opened his eyes and turned back to the White Ranger. "Your powers were destroyed," he breathed.

"And look who brought them back!" The White Ranger gestured towards himself then spread his arms. With grace, he did a deep bow towards Tommy, who took a step back. "I guess you can't keep a good ranger down. Your little escape into space sure was a fun one, but what was it you were really trying to accomplish?"

Tommy brought his hands up to his temples. He was starting to get a splitting headache. The White Ranger took a step forward, stepped on a branch. The snapping sound broke Tommy out of his thoughts and he stepped towards the White Ranger once more. "I'm done with this."

"Once more for old time's sake?" The White Ranger asked. "No problem."

Once again Tommy started to fight with his former self. And, once again, it was a long, hard battle o fight. No matter what it was that Tommy came up with that would normally take down anyone who opposed him, the White Ranger wasn't going down. As a matter of fact, the White Ranger seemed to be getting as frustrated as Tommy was. Everything that was thrown Tommy's way, Tommy would quickly fend off with a flurry of attacks of his own.

"Let's try this!" The White Ranger pulled Saba out from his belt and held him up towards Tommy. Tommy looked into the eyes of his former ally and watched as the red eyes continued to increase in brightness. Red lightning shot out of Saba's eyes towards Tommy.

Thinking quickly, Tommy ducked out of the way and brought his hands up to cover his head. Dirt, rocks, and other loose soil flew up and fell out of the sky, landing on him. Once the air was clear, Tommy di a kip-up back to his feet and charged towards the White Ranger and tackled him to the ground. The two fell and Tommy got a few quick shots into the White Ranger's chest before backing away once more, bringing his hands up beside his face to get into a protective stance once more.

The White Ranger flipped back to his feet as well. He held Saba high above his head. "Don't forget," he warned. "I know all your old moves."

"That might be true," Tommy agreed. "But since then I've learned some new ones." With that, he raced forward. Using a fallen log as a jumping point, Tommy flipped overhead of the White Ranger. He bounced off the trees around him, using his feet to project himself, and turned back in a twisting flip to kick the White Ranger in the face.

His helmet broke and The White Ranger fell to the ground. He slowly got back up and faced Tommy. "Impressive, now we'll see if you can face your toughest challenge."

The white light of the forest increased in brightness. It grew by the second until Tommy had to close his eyes and turn away to keep from going blind. When he opened his eyes once more, the bright white light was gone and so was the White Ranger. This time, there was a green tint to everything around him. The forest changed, the trees which stood straight and tall were now twisted and gnarled with rotting wood.

"What?" Tommy asked. He wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. "You think that was tough?" He took a step forward, stopping only when there was a jolt that went up to his wrist. Turning his hand over, Tommy saw a pink flash of light.

It looked familiar, but it disappeared so quickly, he wasn't quite sure if he dreamt it. Tommy turned his hands back and forth, studying his palms and the back of his hands. The skin was as smooth as ever, except in the few spaces where scars marred his hand. Scars from his constant battle against those evil forces, others from his own training.

"This is weird, even by ranger standards," he muttered to himself.

 _"Tommy."_

The muscles in Tommy's neck twitched and his head whipped around to follow the direction of the whisper. This time it was his mother that spoke to him. He expected to find nothing as he turned, but found his mother standing front of him. She looked at him with a loving smile despite the blood that rand down the side of her head, despite the chunk of glass that stood out from her shoulder.

And she continued to smile at him as she said, _"Why'd you do this to me?"_

Tommy winced. He took a step back. "No, I…I…"

"This is your fault, Tommy," his mother continued. "If it weren't for you, if it weren't for your decisions, this wouldn't have happened to us. We could've been happy and healthy."

Tommy clenched his hands in his fists. It was one thing to think of something himself, to go through that grief. But to know that his mother thought it, too? To _know_ he truly was to blame for all of it? The confirmation was much harder for him to bear.

"Mom," he murmured.

 _"None of this would've happened if it weren't for you."_ His father's voice swirled around him now. Tommy turned around and saw his father staring at him, eyes completely lifeless. The colors of his eyes gone, showing nothing but white. A giant blood spot spread across his chest downwards. Fresh blood dripped down his dress shirt, dripping to the ground. _"And we were so proud of you."_

Tommy felt to his knees, bringing his hands up to cover his ears. His parents' voices swirled around him. They went in and out of his ears, in and out of his body, taking hold of his heart, clutching it in its fist. Squeezing hard. So many people he'd managed to disappoint, to lead astray over the years.

What kind of a leader was he when he fell at the drop of a hat all because his mother and father were berating him. What kind of a leader was he when he charged them all into battle without a second thought? Without a thought to their safety?

Maybe it was what he needed in life? The heroics. Maybe it was a need for him to be needed. Fulfilling something deep inside him that wasn't being met, something he hadn't realized he'd been feeling and stuffing deep down for years.

Finally, Tommy snapped to attention, noticing the voice had stopped. Something else was coming towards him. Tommy slowly lowered his hands from his face and looked up towards the figure that came through the trees. A hissing laugh escaped his lips.

"I thought I'd run into you," he said.

The Green Ranger nodded in reply.

* * *

 **A/N:** It's sad, about 40 chapters into this story and I only really just got to showing Bailey's and Kira's friendship. There were a few moments with the nightmare chapters but here you go. Otherwise, this was one of my favorite episodes of Dino Thunder so I'm excited to work on it now. I hope you guys enjoyed it.

Again, I have another series coming after the Avalon series, but would also come chronologically after the Bailey one. Would you prefer I post it once this story is done or after the Bailey series? Btw, it'll be officially announced soon, but if you follow me on Twitter (at AvalonAvenue) or on tumblr (AvalonBayBlog) then you already know.

Thanks to **Guest, Adela, lizziestrong, brankel1, and Ashley** for reviewing.

 **~Av**


	42. Chapter 42: Fighting Spirit

**Chapter 42**

 _Fighting Spirit_

* * *

Avalon landed on the ground just in time for Elsa to send a jolt of lightning out and it crash into Conner, Ethan, Kira, Trent, and Bailey, knocking them to the ground, painfully. They demorphed, rolling onto their sides, trying to get enough strength to pull themselves back up. Elsa then turned her eyes towards the orange ranger and said, "Should've known you were going to show up at some point."

"What can I say? You can't keep a good ranger down," Avalon said.

Elsa smirked and cracked her whip against the ground. "And is that something you can say about your fearless leader?" Avalon's eyes narrowed into a glare. "I see I've hit a soft spot. Tell me, what is it that dear old Tommy boy is doing right now? Getting some beauty rest, perhaps?"

"What'd you do?" Avalon demanded.

Elsa examined her blackened fingernails. "You can't expect me to spill all of our secrets, do you? What fun would that be?" Then she lowered her hand and shot up the other one. Her whip wrapped around Avalon's neck and pulled her closer to her. Elsa peered down at her. "Though in my opinion, nothing's more fun than torturing you all."

"Av," Conner groaned. "Get out of there."

"Funny," Avalon managed to rasp. "Nothing's more fun than beating you." She sucked in a deep breath and, holding her breath, slammed her elbow back into Elsa's face. Elsa's head snapped backwards, blood immediately dripping from her nose. Then Avalon lifted her leg and kicked Elsa in the chest, causing her to stumble backwards. Elsa hissed, dropping her whip to touch the blood that dripped from her nose.

She smeared it off her face before hissing and charging towards Avalon. Avalon ran back at her and the two came together in a vicious fight. Blow by blow they blocked their punches and kicks, each gaining the upper hand as the seconds passed. Finally, Avalon backed far enough away and held out her hands. Her Turbo key and morpher appeared in her hands and she smiled.

 _Good to know you're still protecting us, Zordon,_ she thought before bringing them together. "Shift into Turbo! Wild Fire Turbo Power!" She morphed into the orange turbo ranger. Elsa, unimpressed, rolled her eyes.

"Just because you change into a different suit doesn't mean I'm not still going to take you down," she declared.

"I'd love to see you try," Avalon replied. With the enhanced speed of the turbo powers, Avalon raced forward and started to knock Elsa silly. Each attack Elsa tried to send back to her, Avalon would maneuver out of the way and it'd give Avalon the better chance to throttle Elsa with as many punches and kicked as she could muster. Finally, Avalon backed away and held out her hand. "Turbo Wild Hammer!" Her weapon appeared in hand and she spun in a circle, gaining momentum before turning and smacked Elsa with it.

Elsa cried out in pain as she flew back and landed hard on the ground. Growling, she sat up, smearing blood from the corner of her mouth. Then she launched herself back towards Avalon, bringing the two into a fight once more. She brought her hand up and raked her nails across the front of Avalon's suit, making sparks fly out. Avalon backed away and brought up her hands.

"Power down!" She called.

"Giving up already?" Elsa taunted.

"Just getting started, mate," Avalon replied. In a blast of orange light, her morpher changed from her turbo morpher ot her dino thunder morpher. "Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha! Ankylo Power!" She then started to charge towards Elsa. "Super Dino Mode!" Avalon continued to run towards Elsa before it looked like she tripped over air and slammed to the ground. She sat up, looking at her hands as orange energy crackled up and down her body, slowly making her dimorph. "Oh my God, what's going on?"

"It must be the presence of the old powers," Bailey realized. "There's so much power being used from the morphing grid that they can't all be used at once. It's too much power."

"And just what Mesogog could need," Elsa said. She tilted her head towards the White Terrorsaurus monster. "Do it."

The White Terrorsaurus Monster nodded and stood in front of the rangers. "At last," he growled. "The Dino Gems will be mine!" He brought out his arms and a large, white light shot out from his chest and landed on the rangers. They cried out in pain as the power from the energy racked through their bodies. Then the light faded and sucked back into the Terrorsaurus's body, taking their Dino Gems with it.

"No," Trent cried feebly.

"Not our gems," Conner added.

"It's going to fry our morphing energy!" Ethan cried.

"Not so tough now, are you?" Elsa asked. She nodded towards the Terrorsaurus again. "Take them down!"

"My pleasure," The Terrorsaurus replied. He started towards the rangers as they got back to their feet. The Terrorsaurus stopped in his tracks, looking at the rangers in confusion. Even Elsa looked confused, seeing the heroes continue to stand before them "What? You still want to fight?"

"Dr. O wouldn't quit, and neither will we," Conner said.

Kira, Ethan, Trent, Bailey, and Avalon all nodded in agreement. They all fell into a fighting stance before charging forward once more. With powers or without, they were going to make sure the Terrorsaurus didn't destroy their city.

"Alright freak," Conner said. His lips were pulled back into a snarl. "We're going to stop you right here and now."

The Terrorsaurus took a step forward. "Tough talk from a bunch of powerless rangers," he shot back. The red horns on his front started to glow. "Let's see how long you can hold up!" The horns started to charge, making the rangers charge towards them. "Take this!" He shot out four blasts of energy to the rangers.

The first three missed by a few inches, but the last one landed right behind them. The ripple of energy ripped the ground beneath them, launching the group up into the air. The rangers landed hard on the ground, but got back up to run to the white Terrorsaurus again.

"You're through, rangers!" The white Terrorsaururs cried. He let them get close enough to start attacking him. While their moves were impressive, they weren't able to They get up and start fighting him anyway, still overpowering them. He batted them away like flies. "This is pathetic. Let's kick things up a notch!"

His entire body started to glow.

* * *

Tommy continued to gape at the green ranger. At the one thing that had managed to plague him for most of his life. No matter how many times he managed to have stretches of time where he felt like himself, the green ranger would come back into existence in some way. No one understood what it was like to have been the green ranger.

On a conscious level, he was held under Rita's control of her evil power. He relished in how easy it was to defeat the rangers when in fights and how much he could crush their spirit in their real life. Loved to see how much he could take down each of them before they were begging for mercy. Loved to see their efforts to get him to stop becoming crushed. But on a deeper, subconscious level, he was trapped, trapped watching everything unfold around him. He beat on the walls of his consciousness, screamed, cried, tried to get himself to stop but found he had no more control over his body. He watched in horror as he continued to throttle his friends, the people who had made him feel comfortable when he was the new kid in town.

They were the ones who didn't turn his back on him. They came back and allowed him to be part of the team no matter what it was he did. How could people continue to look at him like he was a good team leader when he was the one who had single-handedly caused them the most pain.

Being a leader…? That's when his memories of being the green ranger hit him the most. When he was the one who had to make the decisions of what they were going to do in their fights. He was the one who had managed to make their thunderzords destroyed before they went to Phaedos to save Zordon. He was the one who pushed them into continuously fighting against the Tengas, Goldar, and Scorpina. _He_ was the one who made the decisions…

The green ranger continued to stand in front of Tommy. Tommy wasn't sure if the green ranger was gaping back at him but was sure there was no chance it was happening. The green ranger looked at him with a confident air radiating off his body, hands crossed in front of him.

"You…" Tommy swore.

"I see you switched to basic black, Tommy," The green ranger said. He held out his hands, starting to cross the forest towards Tommy. "I can't say it's the best color on you. I always thought green was a great color. Oh, and it looks like you've finally cut your hair. Is it true what people say; you go through traumatic experiences and then you cut off all your hair to cut off that dead weight. Well guess what? You can't get rid of me."

"Well, it seems to work for me," Tommy replied. He shook his head, looking at the green ranger. "But let me guess, you don't want to talk, you want to fight."

"I want to make sure that you understand what you're getting yourself into," the green ranger said. He motioned towards the area that had recently shown his parents. "You saw them, right? You saw them beg for their lives? Just like your friends did when you were me. When you nearly destroyed them."

 _No._ Tommy shook his head.

"Because it was your fault," The green ranger said. "All of it. Everything that's ever happened in your life."

"No," Tommy murmured.

"Your birth parents left you, they didn't want you, because you were a baby they didn't want. Your new parents, the ones who died, they died because of you. Because you were late to pick them up, because they were going to celebrate your achievements. Because you couldn't give them the time that they needed. Because you were the one who was trying to drown your sorrows after what happened on the island and you found it at the bottom of ever bottle that was in reach."

"Stop," Tommy said. His voice took on a desperate edge. No. He couldn't let this happen. It wasn't happening. It wasn't happening. He was dreaming. He was still fighting against Zetlrax in the lab. He was just…in another dimension. _Just like it's always happened when we were younger,_ he thought.

"You were the one who decided to go driving that night and you were the one who knew you weren't in the right mind to do so. You hit their car and you were so drunk that you didn't notice and your drove away."

Tommy closed his eyes.

" _You_ killed your parents, Tommy. And you're the one who continuously lives with the guilt of not telling anyone that you were the one who did it. And that's why I'm here." The green ranger lifted his chin and started towards Tommy.

He moved so fast that Tommy was caught off guard, before he was blasted in the stomach, rammed into by the green ranger's shoulders. Tommy rolled heels over head until he came to a stop. He brought up his arms and pushed the green ranger back out of the way as his evil counterpart descended over him, trying to strike him in the face with his knee. Tommy pushed him away and did a kip-up back to his feet. He turned back to the green ranger, and the two changed towards each other once more.

But the green ranger was as strong as he'd always bee. He overpowered Tommy, grabbing him by the front of the shirt and hefted him across the clearing. Tommy fell to the ground and scrambled back to his feet, fighting once more. He jumped up and ran forward once more. But again, the green ranger made quick work of him. No matter how many times Tommy went back against the green ranger, he would be knocked back even if the fight took longer and longer.

Finally, after sending Tommy to the ground with a well-placed kick to the chest, the green ranger lifted his Dragon Dagger. It crackled with green electricity and shot out toward Tommy, catching him in the chest. Tommy grunted in pain, lifted off the ground by the energy and crashed into a tree behind him. The beam of energy pinned him there, coursing through his veins. He wanted nothing more than to scream at the top of his lungs but kept himself from doing so.

Finally, the green ranger released his grasp on Tommy and Tommy slid down to the ground. He grabbed his stomach, looking up at the green ranger, who made no move to get closer to him.

"What do you want from me?" Tommy asked. The green ranger didn't respond. "What do you want me to say?" His emotions started to take him over, he felt his eyes filled up with tears that had been held back for so long. "You want me to say I know it was a mistake? That I don't know how to live without my mom and dad? That I live through that guilt every day knowing there's nothing I can do about it? That I've suffered so much pain through my life that it was my fault? All of it was my fault, all the decisions I've made, the people I've hurt…"

"So what are you going to do about it?" The green ranger asked. He stepped forward, pressing his foot into Tommy's chest. Tommy made no move to stop him. "Are you going to give up and put your head down like you do with everything else?" Tommy glared back at him but didn't respond. He couldn't respond, everything hurt too much. His heart, his head…"Maybe I should just go ahead and destroy you? You know better than anyone how powerful I am, why don't you give up the fight?"

Tommy closed his eyes. No. No, he couldn't do that. He'd run long enough. He'd hidden long enough. There was too much for him to do. _I'm sorry,_ he thought. _Mom, dad, I'm sorry for everything I've done. For not making you proud with my decisions. And I'm sorry to my friends for continuing to put them in situations where they blindly follow my lead and I keep making them get hurt. But sitting back and wallowing isn't going to help anything. You've done that long enough._

"That's the one thing I'll never do," Tommy finally said.

The green ranger stood silent for a long, tense moment. Then he straightened and grabbed Tommy's hand, pulling him to his feet. The green ranger nodded to him. "Then I guess this is over. You pass the test."

Tommy's eyebrows came together. "Test? W-what test?" He looked around the forest clearing, noticing that the colors started to invert once more. Gone was the green light and foliage around him. Everything was colorful once more; the sky was blue, the trees were brown and green, the grass lush beneath his feet, and the flowers sparkled with their vibrant hues. And out from between the trees, the red zeo ranger and white mighty morphin' ranger came to stand next to the green ranger.

"You haven't been fighting us," The Red Zeo ranger said. "You've been fighting for your life."

"And you've proven that your will to live is stronger than any ranger power," The White Ranger continued. "And its' proven that your friends will do anything to make sure that you stick with them. They'll always follow you in battle, no matter what happens." The three rangers held out their hands, where pieces of Tommy's dino gem lay.

Then Tommy realized he was holding onto something. He looked down and saw Kat's pink zeo crystal. It glowed a bright pink, before the light shot over to the pieces of the black dino gem. After a few seconds, the dino gem fused back together, floating over to Tommy. Tommy reached out his free hand and grabbed onto it, running his fingers over it.

"That's yours," The green ranger said. He, the red zeo ranger, and the white mighty morphin' rangers all nodded at the same time. "Good luck, black ranger."

A white light started to glow around him. Tommy reached out his hand, straining to reach the past forms of himself, but they faded along with the light. He blinked a few times, before his eyebrows came together, realizing he was looking at the ceiling. The ceiling of the lab with Hayley and Kat standing over him.

"Tommy," Hayley breathed.

"Oh, Tommy." Kat's hand, which was tightened around his, her zeo crystal nestled tightly between their palms. She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his forehead. "You're okay!" She looked over her shoulder. "Guys, he's okay. Tommy's awake, he's okay!"

And in a matter of seconds, all of Tommy's friends were standing around him identical expressions of happiness and relief on their faces. "Man," Zack said. "I can't believe after all that we got an anti-climactic ending." Trini, Avalon, and Billy all gave him disapproving glances while he held his hands up defensively. "Just trying to lighten the mood."

"I don't think I could ever come back from where I was without you making a joke, Zack," Tommy murmured. "If I did…well…I'd think I was somewhere a little unpleasant."

"You okay, man?" Jason asked.

Tommy's eyebrows came together as he thought about it. He moved his arms and started to push himself up. Kat reached out, trying to push him back down, but Tommy waved off her hand. He sat up straight, dropping his hands to his lap. He looked around, trying to figure out what it was that felt different about him. It was the weight of the world off his shoulders. Finally getting everything out in the open, even if it was his subconscious that did it…he felt the best he had in a million years.

"Yeah, never felt better," he said.

"Good." Kimberly reached out and punched him hard on the shoulder. "Don't scare me like that again!"

Tommy turned his hand over, releasing Kat's Zeo Crystal. She took it and looked over the Dino Gem that sat in his palm. "Tommy, your Dino Gem isn't broken anymore," She said.

"The power signatures must've worked to help fuse it back together," Billy deduced. "It must've worked to take you out of the coma-like state you were in as well."

"No," Tommy said. "It was my guilt that kept me there."

"What do you mean?" Hayley asked. "Your guilt?"

Tommy took in a deep breath. "Look, there's a lot that's gone on in all of our lives. Since I met you all in Angel Grove my life has been nothing but a whirlwind. I've met some of the greatest people in my life, I had the greatest responsibility any teenager, let alone any person, could ever imagine. And you all allowed me to lead you guys through many of our adventures together."

"Of course, Tommy," Billy said. He crossed his arms, looking down at his friend with concern. His eyes shifted back and forth over his friend's face. "We don't know anyone else that we'd want to go lead us through everything we've been through."

"And even then, there've been enough times that I've made the wrong decisions and made you guys get into even more danger than you've ever been in. And you continued to come back and still let me lead you," Tommy said. He looked each of his friends in the eye. "I've felt nothing but guilt for what I've done. For making our zords get destroyed, for making Kim almost get really hurt because I was pushing her to continue battling against Rito—"

"Wait a minute!" Kimberly held up a hand. "You've never forced me to do anything. Tommy, you taught me to be a better person and a better ranger. I'm not afraid of anything anymore, I take more risks in things that I would've normally balked and hemmed and hawed at." Tommy waited for Avalon to make a comment, then suddenly realized she wasn't there. "You showed me how to keep going, Tommy and I can't thank you enough for that."

"And you've made me a better leader," Jason said. "I look at the things you do and you've done and I incorporate it into many areas of my life. With my students, I stop to think what would you do if you were in the situation and work hard to live up to what you could be."

Kat wrapped her hand around Tommy's arms. "Tommy, there's nothing you should feel guilty over. There's a lot of you should be proud of."

"There's not," Tommy said slowly. "But…that's not important right now." He leaned forward and gave Kat a quick kiss then looked at his friends. "What's important is that we continue to work as a team. If you'd continue to let me be part of that team."

"Why do I have the feeling there's more you're not telling us?" Zack asked. He tapped his chin. "Call it a hunch."

"Or call it knowing each other for too long," Trini pointed out. Then she shrugged. "But I feel it too, I have…since we came back here. Something's been holding you back Tommy."

"And it's not going to hold me back anymore. I promise." Tommy got to his feet, getting off the bed. He looked over at Hayley and she nodded back. "I wouldn't have been able to do any of this without you, Hayles," he said. "I owe you one."

"I'll just add it to your bill," Hayley replied. Then her eyes shifted over towards the computer that continued to keep tabs of the rangers. "But I think you may want to figure out what you're going to do about that. The guys need your help."

Tommy nodded. "They've got it."

* * *

Another explosion rocked the ground, taking the rangers up into flight once more. Conner pushed himself up on his hands. He looked around at his friends. They continued to lie on the ground, cut and bleeding. Their strength was starting to run out, he could see it. Still, Conner willed himself to get back to his feet. He needed to be strong for them.

He needed to be a leader.

"Haven't you learned to give up, yet?" Elsa asked from where she stood, watching the whole exchange.

"I'll never give up," Conner said.

The white Terrorsaurus monster took a step forward. "Good, because I'm just getting started!" He started to charge up once more, but was cut off by a kick to the face that Tommy delivered, knocking him over.

A smile immediately came to Conner's face. "Dr. O!" He couldn't keep the elation out of his voice.

"Tommy!" Bailey and Avalon cried in unison.

"You're alive," Kira added.

"Not for long!" The white Terrorasurus ranger said. He took a step back when there were bright beams of light as the other rangers teleported down behind Tommy. Ethan, Kira, Trent, Bailey, and Avalon got to their feet and moved to stand with them. "Don't think because you've got more people standing behind you that I'm not going to take you all down."

"Maybe so," Tommy said. "But I'm going to make sure we'll all work together, as a team. I may lead them, but I need all of them in my life. We're a team and we're always there to help each other when they need it." He held out his wrist, where his dino morpher appeared. "You guys ready?"

"Ready," Jason, Trini, Zack, Billy, Kimberly, Avalon, and Bailey replied.

"It's morphin' time!" Jason shouted.

"Zeo Ranger Power!" Kat shouted.

"Dino Thunder, Power up! Ha!" Tommy shouted.

"Ankylosaurus," Bailey cried.

"Stegosaurus," Avalon cried.

"Mastodon," Zack cried.

"Pterodactyl," Kimberly cried.

"Triceratops," Billy cried.

"Saber-tooth Tiger," Trini cried.

"Tyrannosaurus," Jason cried.

"Zeo Ranger I, Pink," Kat cried.

"Brachho Power," Tommy cried.

"Power Rangers!" They called in unison.

"Wow," Conner breathed. He looked at his friends, who all smiled back. They'd never seen any of the older rangers in action before. Not in person. But now to see it all stretched in front of the, the legacy of the power rangers, the rangers they were trying to emulate…and he watched them all, one by one charge forward to take on the White Terrorsaurus monster, getting in great hits that mad e him go flying backwards.

"Okay, guys, let's put em' together," Jason said. He, Kimberly, Billy, Zack, Trini, Avalon, and Bailey all spun in a circle and with a burst of their color, their power weapons appeared in their hands. Kat summoned her Zeo Power Disc, and Tommy summoned his Bracchio staff.

"Power Axe," Zack called.

"Power Bow," Kimberly called.

"Power Daggers," Trini called.

"Power Lance," Billy called.

"Power Sword," Jason called, putting the weapons together.

"Power Staff," Avalon called.

"Ankylo Blaster," Bailey called.

"Zeo Power Disc," Kat called.

"Bracchio Staff, Energy Orb," Tommy called. He spun his staff over his head, creating a large ball of energy. "Fire!"

"Fire!" His friends called.

The combined attacked of the weapons shot together and crashed into the White Terrorsaurus. "NO!" Elsa shouted. The White Terrorsaurus became encompassed by the blast and screamed as it raced through him before he fell to the ground. The gem on his front broke open and little blasts of bright colorful light shot out, returning to the Dino Thunder rangers.

"Our gems," Kira cried happily.

"We got our powers back," Ethan added. He then turned to Tommy as the rest of the rangers powered down. "But Dr. O…you were in a coma…and…and what was all of that about?"

"You won't believe me if I told you," Tommy replied. The ground started to shake, threatening to knock the rangers over onto the ground. Turning, they saw that Mesogog had seen the fight and sent down the beam that would make the monster grow to tower over them.

"I wouldn't start congratulating yet," Kimberly said.

"You think you can finish this guy?" Tommy asked the rangers.

Conner grinned. "Totally." He and the others held up their morphers. "Dino Thunder, Power Up, Ha!" He, Kira, and Ethan leapt up into their quickly formed megazord and started to fight the white Terrorsaurus monster. Like when they were on the ground, he had the upper hand at first. Then they thought about what Tommy had been through before. "We can't give up, Dr. O hasn't given up so we won't."

"You're right," Ethan agreed.

"Let's do this," Kira said.

"Super Dino Mode!" The rangers and the zord increased their power with the super dino mode power. "Dino drill, full power!" The Thundersauruz Megazord pulled back it arm and shot the dino drill through the White Terrorsaurus, ripping it apart in seconds.

* * *

Tommy laughed as he was nearly knocked backwards by Avalon and Bailey as they collided into him in a hug. "Whoa, guys, I'm not dead yet," he said, hugging them back. He looked over their heads as Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Trent as they all spoke at once, trying to figure out what had happened in his dream world. It seemed that they couldn't get over the whole 'fighting your past self' thing.

"You may not be dead yet, but if you do something like that again I'll have to kill you myself, yeah?" Avalon said, when she pulled back. She wiggled her arm loose as Bailey continued to hug him.

"After today, that sounds like something I should say to you," Tommy shot back.

"You should've been saying that to her when she first became a ranger," Bailey said.

"Hey, Bailey might be your favorite, but I care about you, too," Avalon said with sincerity. Tommy smiled and nodded back.

"Please, I reckon I'm both of your favorites." Bailey finally pulled back and looked into her brother's face. "So what happened?"

"Everything I've said," Tommy said. "I had a lot of things I needed to work through and…being put under like that did it for me." He let out a low sigh. "But Zeltrax got away, and that's the most important thing."

"The most important thing is that you're still here with us, Tommy," Kat pointed out.

Tommy nodded. He looked over the faces of all his friends and family that he'd known since he was the new kid in Angel Grove and knew how true it was. As well as how much he truly did value each and every one of them for being there. "You know," he said slowly. "I just want to thank you guys from the bottom of my heart. For hanging in there with me. It was tough, but you guys came through. It means a lot to me."

"He's right, you should be really proud of yourselves," Hayley agreed. "You went out to continue fighting even though you didn't have your powers at the time."

"If that's not the sign of a true ranger, I don't know what is," Jason said. Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Trent all smiled with pride at his words. Knowing it was coming from the original red ranger, it was official that they were being accepted into the ranger family.

 _And every ranger knows when to tell the truth,_ Tommy thought. With that, he turned to Avalon and Bailey and said, "There's a lot we need to talk about."

* * *

 **A/N:** Oh my God, you guys. I can actually see where this story is ending. Like, I see the end of it coming up. It's really bittersweet, but, I think you'll like what I'd work on next. ;) Hope you enjoyed this one.

Thanks to **Adela, brankel1, and Ashley** for reviewing.

 **~Av**


	43. Chapter 43: We All Fall Down

**Chapter 43**

 _We All Fall Down_

* * *

 _"And news from Angel Grove is much like it has been the last couple of days. The Machine Empire has continued their onslaught much in the way they have years ago. But just like those years ago the Power Rangers have managed to hold them off. Surprisingly, viewers have pointed out it hasn't been the full team as well as not having been the same team. To the keen eye the rainbow-colored spandex appears to be the same, but those more trained to understand the rangers know that they're the Yellow Ninja ranger, the Yellow Zeo ranger, the Blue Zeo Ranger and the Green Zeo ranger. While we've also got confirmation that, up in space, the Astro Rangers have been taking on Divatox and her minions along with the Lost Galaxy rangers. It appears that the Lightspeed Rescue, and Wild Force teams have joined in the fight against Rita and Zedd as well. Along with the mysterious Mesogog in the city of Reefside, who knows when we'll see a time of peace again."_

Zack reached up with the remote and turned off the TV. He shook his head before turning to Tommy, who stood beside the couch, frantically moving his wrists to fasten his tie around his neck. "Do you think we need to go back and help them?"

At the question, Tommy let out a long sigh. "Honestly, I'm not quite sure what to do. Conner and the others, they've managed to hold off Mesogog so far, but with everything they've told us…that Anton's Mesogog…that he plans to bring back the dinosaurs. I don't know whether we'd be spreading ourselves too thin." He nodded towards the TV. "So far it looks like the others have been doing a good job."

"And how long did it take for our fearless leader to dispatch them?" Zack asked with a teasing smile.

"Not long at all," Tommy said. "Once I got into contact with Andros he got into contact with Leo and Cole. And Avalon and Bailey contacted Carter. The only thing I'm a little concerned about is that we haven't heard from Justin in a while."

Zack looked him up and down. "Ummm, he might be busy with school, man. Kind of like you are."

Tommy rolled his eyes. "Trust me, parent-teacher conferences are the least of my worries." He paused. "When they don't think their kids are God's gift to Earth, anyway." Zack laughed along with him. Tommy glanced at his watch and looked over towards the entrance to the living room. "Bailey, come on, we're going to be late!" He continued to fuss with his tie until Zack rose from the couch and pushed his hands away.

"It's a tie, it's not that complicated." Zack grabbed the two ends and quickly undid Tommy's work before tying a pristine tie. "I should work at David's Bridal," he bragged. "I'm _that_ good." Then he got a closer look at the tie, noticing the swirls of red and green mixed together. "Ugh, but this tie isn't. Kat really let you out of the house like that?"

"I heard that, Zack," Kat said, walking out of the kitchen with a mug of coffee clutched in her hand. The sleeves of the white button-down shirt she wore hung over her hands. "And trust me, I didn't want him to wear that one either. But he found it to be symbolic."

"If you want symbolism, try reading a poem, mate," Avalon said. She and Bailey walked into the living room. She glanced at Tommy and gave him a small smile, but Bailey looked away from him, unable to meet his eyes.

"I'll be in the car," she said before heading to the door.

"What about lunch?" Avalon called after her sister.

"I'll buy it."

Tommy sighed as the door closed behind her. He knew hearing the truth would be hard on them, but didn't know how bad it'd be. Avalon took it in stride, though he could see she was equally confused. How could the one person she knew to be a team leader and the most noble also be the one who have killed their parents. On the other hand, she knew it was a deep struggle for him, having been suffering from the loss of Anton Mercer and the others on the destruction of their island lab. Bailey, on the other hand, immediately shut down around him. Once he'd gotten the words out and explained to her what happened, she'd burst out into hysterical tears and ran from the room, refusing to talk to him.

That had to be the hardest part of the whole thing. Bailey had practically worshipped Tommy since meeting him, their relationship had always been special. So much so that Avalon felt a little jealous. She and Bailey were very close and had to be due to the circumstances she'd put them in, watching as her little sister became more open with those around them was hard but good to see. Now to see Bailey turning her back on the one that had made her feel normal in Angel Grove was hard. Judging by the defeated expression on Tommy's face, it had to be just as hard for him, too.

"She'll come around, Tommy," Kat said. She pressed a hand to his wrist. "It's just going to take some time. It was a big revelation to make."

"I know," Tommy agreed. "I just wish she would talk to me."

"Maybe you'll talk on the way to school?"

"Maybe. I'll call you at lunch. But if you don't hear from me, it's because one of the parents actually managed to talk me to death." Tommy gave Kat a kiss on the cheek and grabbed his keys before leaving the house. Avalon turned to look at what was playing on the news and shook her head.

"They can only hold them off for so long, yeah?" She asked.

Zack nodded. "The last call we got form Aisha said that they were able to hold off the cogs and other monsters the Machine Empire sent out, but they've had to regroup more often." He shook his head. "If we don't figure out what to do soon, then we won't have much of a home to get back to."

"We got our powers back for a reason," Kat said. "Dulcea said so herself. It may be hard, but we'll defeat them all. We have to. Everyone's counting on us."

"That might be the problem," Avalon said mysteriously. "The more pressure over us…" she shook her head. Then again, pressure was something they'd grown used to over the years. To the point that if the pressure and stress was taken away, they'd probably all fall to quivering messes. "Then again, we've always done our best work that way."

"Yeah, we're going to take these guys down no matter what!" Zack declared. "We have to." Then he stood up and stretched his rams overhead. "Speaking of which, I've got a date with a mat."

Kat giggled. "What does that mean?"

"It means that I've got to get some sparring in if we're going to be fighting against these guys again," Zack explained. He made a show of kneeling towards the ground, stretching out his hamstrings. "And unless you count some of the fights I got in while I was in prison, I need the practice."

Avalon smiled, shaking her head. "I told him I'd help him out."

"Maybe I'll join you later," Kat agreed. "I need the practice as well." She reached up, rubbing her shoulder. "I haven't fought that hard in a long time, I forgot how much strain it puts on your body."

"Or we're all just getting old," Zack said. He smiled and the two went down to the basement lab. Hayley was already sitting at a computer while Billy sat nearby, running a cloth over a metal piece in his hand. Zack glanced back and forth between the two of them and raised an eyebrow. "Do you ever go home?" He asked.

"I do have my own café to run, thank you very much," Hayley pointed out. "But that doesn't mean I haven't been able to split my time evenly. Besides, there's been a surge of evil energy that Billy has brought to my attention."

"Should've guessed," Avalon remarked. "Once he's back into science mode he constantly scans for any danger that could be coming our way."

Billy laughed quietly. "I suppose I do get carried away, but it's better to be safe than sorry. It'll give us an idea of whether the Machine Empire or Divatox are on the move." He motioned to Hayley. "But she's right, I got a reading of an evil energy all over the state of California."

"Is it anything we should be worried about?" Zack asked.

"Not yet. We haven't been able to figure out what it was that's caused the evil energy," Hayley explained. She turned from the computer screen to face the rangers. "I've got a lock on some seismic activity out near Blue Bay Harbor, but I can't tell if it has to do with the evil energy. Not even the news reporters are talking about the seismic energy I've caught."

"Which means it's a small magnitude," Billy took up the explanation. "Which can be explained by something as simple as the shifting of plates. I don't think we have to worry about 'the big one' coming anytime soon."

"Yes, well, like I said, I have to get back to the café," Hayley said. "I've got a group coming in who want to promote their motocross race and I need to help set up the cardboard stands and the flyers." She nodded to Billy. "Please let me know if there's anything that needs to be brought to my attention."

Billy nodded and moved to take her place at the computer, carefully putting down the mechanical piece down. "I'm surprised to find you two down here so early," he remarked. "Usually it's just me, Hayley, and Tommy."

"Let me guess, you banished everyone else, right?" Zack teased. He jerked his thumb to Billy and said to Avalon, "It's the nicest way I've ever been rejected to help someone. I don't think I've _ever_ helped him fix anything."

"Your skills are better suited to the field," Billy said.

"In Billy speak, that means 'fuck off and leave me alone'."

Avalon smiled but didn't respond. She'd been one of the ones that Billy would allow to help him out in the Command Center or with his other projects way back when. At first it was due to his wanting to get DNA samples from her as he worked on trying to figure out the extent of their powers and what it did to their bodies. Afterwards she'd slowly grown used to being in the Command Center and helping him out with their zords and weapons. Of course, when he stopped being a ranger and was their tech advisor all throughout her tenure as a Zeo Ranger she spent as much time at the Power Chamber than at school.

And they didn't _always_ work…

Feeling herself start to blush at the memories—and equally hating herself for it—Avalon turned and started to stretch her arms. She didn't need to think about that when there were much more important things to deal with. But, honestly, having Billy around was really starting to do her head in. There was a part of her that was relieved to get her anger off her chest when they finally had the conversation that had been years in the making and was glad to finally be able to move on. But there was a part of her that was still stubborn enough to not want to be around him for too long.

Not alone, anyway.

She could feel his eyes on her as she and Zack moved to get into position on the practice mats Zack quickly set up for them. "Don't go easy on me, kid," Zack said, using the nickname for her that he hadn't used in ages. "Just because I try to live a peaceful life now doesn't mean that I don't still know how to fight."

Avalon grinned. "I wouldn't dream of it," she said. "It's be wayy too boring for me." She stepped backwards, her eyes shifting over to Billy, who crossed his arms and fixed his gaze on the two of them. She shook her head and turned back to Zack. "When you're ready."

"I'm always ready."

The confident smile on his face never waned but something in his eyes shifted. It was more serious. Much like the way Zack could enjoy fighting monsters and putties, always had a smile, but knew when to be serious about it as well. There weren't many times that he had to prove he could be a leader when the team needed him to be, but he was as loyal as the others.

He'd gotten stronger. Avalon could see it in the way his muscles moved, bunching up and extending when he moved to punch and kick her. He still had his hip-hop kido style with everything but it had changed slightly. Starting off with the hip hop kido was then quickly changed to a more dynamic street-fighting style that Avalon had adapted into her own parkour style after having been in the Vipers.

 _Makes sense,_ she realized. _He'd been working through the streets and stuck with some bad friends for a while, too._ Still, she managed to deflect most of Zack's attacks against her. They shuffled back and forth across the mats, ducking, bobbing, and weaving out of the way of each other's attack. Finally, after a duck roll out of the way, Avalon came to a stop on her back with Zack's foot near her throat. She thought for a minute, of grabbing onto his ankle and twisting him off her but quickly decided against it. It was a move she reserved for when she was fighting for her life, knowing it would immediately injure the ankle of the person she grabbed.

Zack grinned, realizing his win, and backed away, holding out his hand. Avalon grabbed onto it and he hauled her to her feet. "And Zack-man is the winner!"

"Yeah, yeah, you're just glad that I went easy on you, mate," Avalon replied.

Zack placed his hands on his hips. "I thought I told you not to do that."

"Sometimes restraint is a better offense than physical attacks," Billy commented, grabbing their attention. He had been silent the entire time they'd been fighting. His blue eyes shifted between the two. Something must've resonated with him for his eyes widened and he turned away for a second, looking at the computer screen behind him.

"What's up, mate?" Avalon asked.

Billy tilted his head. "I might've figured out a way to get the upper hand on Divatox and the Rita and Zedd," he said. "And for an upgrade to the ranger's zords."

Zack walked over to Billy and slapped him on the shoulder. "Should've guessed you'd be the one to come up with something on the fly. That seems to be your specialty. What've you got the time."

"At the moment? An idea. Nothing more than that, but I could use some help."

"Well, you've got me, I'm not doing anything," Zack said.

"I could use all the help I could get," Billy said. He looked at Avalon. "Care to help me with the zords?" She eyed him suspiciously. "You know more about these zords than I do. And if I mess something up, then you can say 'I told you so' and fix it."

Avalon continued to watch him for moment. He had to have known the significance of what he'd just aid. It took Billy a second, but then he looked away and she knew he got it. Every time they worked on zords and weapons over the years, he'd be so excited with the work and breakthroughs he'd achieve that he'd plunge ahead with Avalon giving some sort of a warning, 'you're going to electrocute yourself', 'it's going to break', or a simple 'I wouldn't do that' and every time she'd be right.

It made them laugh often and was a teasing joke between them. He'd be right with his insistence to continuously test things again and again to get a straight answer, and she'd be right if he were pushing things too hard.

"I can't," She finally replied. "I'm going to Bailey's school for that Parent-Teacher thing." As soon as the words escaped her lips, Avalon felt something tugging at her heart. Something she hadn't felt in a long time, it made her stomach quiver and a sinking pull at her body.

Billy nodded and walked out of the lab to the zord hangar without a backwards glance. Avalon ran a hand through her hair and rested her hands atop her head, letting out a long sigh. "Oh, why'd you do that, Av?" she muttered to herself.

"I know you guys broke up and things are weird or whatever," Zack remarked. "But that doesn't mean working with him is going to kill you."

"I reckon it might."

"Why's that?" Zack asked.

Avalon twisted her mouth to the side. She couldn't believe she was admitting this out loud. Not so much in the fact that she was saying it, but because there was a part of her that still refused to believe it after all the pain she'd felt. "Because I've realized that, despite being mad at him for so long…I think I'm still in love with him."

* * *

Kira was a nervous wreck though she tried her hardest not to let anyone see it. Things always fared better for her when she tried to ignore them. Especially when her parents were involved. And this was something she did her best to talk them out of. Parent Teacher meetings, who needed them in high school anyway? There was no point. You brought your report cards home, you got them signed, you brought them back. That was all that was needed.

No muss, no fuss.

They hadn't figured out about her detention the first day of school, they didn't know that some of her grades were starting to suffer because of her ranger duties. There wasn't anything that they needed to know too much about. And she'd made sure they didn't. Now there was no way around it.

Kira stopped by the Cybercafe before going to school. Not only did it give her some more time to try and convince her parents not to go to school, but it'd take her mind off the stress for a little while. Besides, she'd promised Trent she'd help get things set up for the day. Once they'd finished that, there was still enough time for them to get some last-minute studying in—or in Trent's case finish the homework he hadn't completed the night before—before having to leave for their first period class.

"You know, for someone who's supposed to be so sick, you'd think he wouldn't spend so much time working," Kira teased him.

"Yeah, well, I spend enough of my time sleeping as it is, I guess I can't really use the excuse anymore," Trent said. He smiled a little, tapping a pencil against his leg. "And I still need to get out of the house sometimes, or else I'll go stir crazy. The place is so big that even if my dad and I are both home it's still quiet."

Kira nodded. She watched Trent's face as he explained it to her. She could see the pain in them, knowing the truth, even if his father didn't know. "It must be hard," she said slowly. "Knowing he's Mesogog and there's not much we can do to help."

Trent nodded. But a determined light didn't leave his eyes. "We'll think of something," he said. Then he looked up as the door to the café opened and two young men walked inside. "Sorry, we're closed."

"We're here to promote the event at Reefside MX Park," the boy on the left said.

Trent nodded. "Oh, right, sorry. Hayley mentioned it to me before, I guess I must've forgotten." Trent pushed his books aside and he went to greet the two. Kira watched from where she sat on the couch. "Here, let me start setting up the flyers and you can work on the cardboard stands."

"Sounds good. I'll get them from the car." The boy on the left patted the boy in blue and left the café.

Kira continued to watch as he and Trent started up a conversation, pinning flyers around the café. Her eyes narrowed a she studied the boy in blue. He looked so familiar to her but…she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Had they met somewhere before? She would've remembered if they had. He had a face that she wouldn't forget so quickly.

As soon as the thought passed through her mind, she rolled her eyes and shook her head. _Focus, Kira,_ she thought. _You've got too much to worry about._ She must've still been shaking her head when the boy in blue came by to press a flyer to her wall, because she jumped when he spoke to her.

"Something about that book confusing you?" He asked.

"Well, it's my math homework, we're doing Probability and Statistics," Kira said. "So I guess it sort of is." She looked up into his face, studying it. He looked back at her with a small smile. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to stare. But you look familiar to me. Do we know each other?"

"I don't think so," the boy in blue said. He reached out and shook Kira's hand. "I'm Blake."

"Kira," she replied. She shook his hand firmly, eyebrows coming together when she felt his firm grasp. Much firmer than she anticipated. "But…you look really familiar to me."

Blake smiled mysteriously. He tilted his head towards the flyer on the wall. "Do you follow motocross?"

"No, why, is that what you do?" Kira felt her face turn red when she noticed his name plastered all over the flyers that had been put up. Across the room, she heard Trent snickering and she shot him a glare. Trent widened his eyes innocently and shrugged, turning away. Blake's friend came back into the café and started to set up the cardboard stands. "So you're famous for riding a motorcycle?"

"Don't be so surprised," Blake said with a laugh. "It's a really popular sport. Well, I guess not around here if you didn't know about it. It's a really fun sport, as challenging as any other, really." He eyed her for a moment, lips twitching into a smile. "Well, why don't you come see for yourself? The nationals are this weekend. Bring your friends, I'll get you some passes."

"Why?" Kira couldn't help a flutter of excitement move through her stomach. "Are you asking me out?"

Blake laughed again, running a hand through his hair. "Nothing like that, actually, I already have a girlfriend." Kira nodded and looked away. Ouch. Rejection never felt good. It was worse jumping to that conclusion of being asked out first. Kira's anxiety shot upwards once more. "She can't make it, but I doubt she'd mind if I gave you her ticket. It's a cool event and the way we get more people into it is by talking about and spreading the word. I'm sure you'll be into it." Reaching into his pocket, Blake produced a few passes that hung off plastic chains. "I'll put your name on the list so to make sure you get in."

"Cool, thanks," Kira said, looking over the passes that rested in her palm. "I'll be sure to tell my friends. We'll definitely be there."

"Awesome." Blake nodded. "I'll catch up with you later. We've got some other places we need to hit around here." Kira nodded and Blake hurried to finish the rest of the setting up. Once they were done he and his companion left the café.

Trent came back over to Kira, wiping his hands off on a towel. "Come on, we're going to be late for school." He held up his hands and took a step back. "Oh, I hope you don't think I'm trying to ask you out or anything."

Kira reached behind her and pulled up a pillow, throwing it at Trent. "Shut up!" She rolled her eyes and got up, gathering her things as well. School. Of course, she couldn't put it off for too long. "Alright," she finally said. "Let's go."

By the time they arrived at school, students were milling around with their parents all over the place. Kira held her breath as she looked around for her parents. They didn't seem to be there yet. That was a good sign, it probably meant they forgot. Which also meant she was going to get beat for it later, but that was okay. She could handle that better than constant worrying in with them at school.

Kira immediately went to her locker and found Bailey at her locker with Avalon standing behind her. Kira smiled at the two. "Hey," she greeted them. Bailey turned and reached out, giving her a hug, startling Kira into a flinch. Bailey looked at her in confusion and Kira forced herself to flash a reassuring smile.

 _Calm down, Kira, you're acting like they're going to jump out of your locker or something,_ Kira thought. Her gaze shifted over to Avalon, who looked at her funny, and Kira quickly looked away. She hated Avalon's expression, it looked too familiar. Almost like she recognized something.

"Hey," Bailey replied. "Are you ready for Parent-Teacher day?" She rolled her eyes.

"You're not happy about it either?" Kira guessed.

Bailey tilted her head towards Avalon. "Well, having my sister here is probably better than what most people could get, yeah? My grades are never bad and I'm always well-behaved."

"So why am I here again?" Avalon asked.

Bailey didn't respond but Kira figured it out quickly. She didn't want Tommy to be the one to do it because she didn't want Tommy around her. Kira wasn't quite sure what it was that caused the fallout between them, it had been a private conversation that Tommy, Avalon, and Bailey had. Next thing Kira knew, Bailey turned her head whenever Tommy would say something to them. But would go and do it anyway, or else she'd wait for Avalon to give the order before doing it.

"You never know," Kira said instead. "Elsa might show up and attack everyone. It'd bring some excitement around here."

"Trust me, mate, you don't want that sort of excitement," Avalon said flatly. She looked over her shoulder, noticing Conner and Ethan coming their way. "I'm going to go find Tommy and hopefully sneak out of here. If I don't see you later, Sis, I managed to sneak out."

Bailey laughed. "Okay, Av. I'll see you later."

Avalon reached out and ruffled her sister's hair. "Later Goober."

Bailey batted Avalon's hand away, her cheeks turning red when Trent laughed and asked, "Goober?" In response to the nickname.

"Don't ask," she said. "So, are your parents coming?"

"Mine are already here," Conner said. He looked anything but happy. "They insisted on driving me to and from school today so they made sure not to miss it."

"Mine couldn't wait to come!" Ethan said with a bright smile. "They couldn't wait to see all of my progress and the projects and stuff I've been working on." His eyes shifted over his friends. "Uh, but it looks like you guys aren't too happy about it."

Trent shrugged. "Dad's got to work." There was no point in adding that some of that work may be what Mesogog wanted his minions to do that day. It was unmistakable in the silence that came afterwards.

"Are your parents coming?"

It took Kira a second to realize that Ethan had directed the question toward her. Kira looked up at him then, through no fault of her own, her eyes shifted over to Conner. He looked back at her, waiting for her response. She could see in his eyes that he was almost as apprehensive as she was.

Kira sucked in a deep breath, put on a brave face. "I don't know," she finally replied. "They didn't say anything about it. But, hey, guess what happened this morning." She explained Trent's and Ethan's having met Blake and getting the passes for the riding competition.

"Sweet! That sounds awesome," Ethan said.

"It's not like you can't become famous for other sports," Conner said instead. He pulled his backpack up his shoulder, leaned against the locker next to him. "It's not like riding a motorcycle is too hard or anything."

Ethan smirked and lowered his head, snickering quietly.

Bailey, on the other hand, said kindly, "You're right, Conner. There are a lot of other sports that can help you become famous. But how many times do you reckon you've heard of a motorcycle competition coming to Reefside?" Conner rolled his eyes. "Sounds like a lot of fun."

"Count me in," Ethan said.

"It doesn't seem like there's going to be anything _better_ to do, so…" Conner trailed off.

Kira laughed along with the others.

* * *

Tommy was tired. Tired of talking to parents, tired of talking to students, and just tired of having Principal Randall breathing down his neck. There were only a few things he would've preferred to do, one of them was fighting as a ranger, the next would probably be getting his head beat in by a frying pan.

There were parents that thought their kids were nothing but perfect and wouldn't listen when Tommy tried to explain there were things they needed to work on. Others that didn't seem to care what their kids were doing in school, which was then passed down onto the child who continuously brought home Cs and Ds. They were just going to go straight to work any way so 'why did it matter'? Then there were those that cared _too_ much. Who breathed down their children's necks and demanded to know why they were getting good grades but not top marks. Why they weren't getting 100% compared to the 98% they received.

And all the while, Principal Randall's comments didn't help. 'Stop complaining', 'Suck it up', 'Your child isn't that special' all the while Tommy did his best to have a decent conversation. He also didn't know why Principal Randall decided to stick with Tommy on his parent-teacher conferences but he was sure his eye wouldn't stop twitching until she was gone.

His meeting with Ethan's parents had been a breeze. Ethan was very dedicated with his school work and certainly excelled with academics. It was obvious Computer Science was something he would do very well in when he went to college. Cassidy's parents were as hyper-attentive as Cassidy was to everything and while Tommy mentioned she had moments of interrupting his class with her camera work and sticking microphones and tape recorders into other people's faces, she was driven and he didn't disbelieve she'd be a good journalist someday.

Devon's parents, surprisingly, were straighter laced than Devon's laid-back surfer attitude showed. But Devon was also very bright. He got perfect marks on nearly everything with little to no difficulty and had no qualms in studying hard when it was something that didn't come quite as easily. He took everything in stride, along with Cassidy's demands for him to follow her with a video camera.

"I don't know what he'll do in the future, but whatever it is, Devon will be successful and happy," Tommy told his parents. "I can tell." He saw them starting to bristle a little bit. They'd said he was going to study chemistry in college, though from Tommy's POV it didn't seem like anything Devon would be interested in. "But there's plenty of time for him to figure it out and I'm excited to see what he gets up to while he does."

Devon had beamed the whole time Tommy spoke and when his parents were leaving he said, "Thanks, Dr. Oliver, I've tried to explain this to my mom and dad but they never listen, you know? They just think I have my head in the clouds all the time. I mean, yeah, I can be pretty messy and forgetful sometimes, I know that."

Tommy laughed. "Don't worry, Devon, I know exactly how that feels," he said. How many times had his friends busted his balls for being late, forgetting a book, forgetting to meet up, having a little more difficulty with his school work. It was always playful teasing and Tommy was aware of it. _But it's not like I can put him in front of the Machine Empire and have them scramble his brains._ His small joke made him smile, which was instantly wiped off when Principal Randall let out a small growl beside him.

"You know, I can handle the rest of these meetings by myself," he said through clenched teeth. "Why don't you go find another teacher to bother—" he quickly cut himself off. "I mean, to evaluate."

Something flashed in Principal Randall's eyes as her upper lip curled. She looked out the window for a moment then pressed her lips together, turning back to him. "I've had a lot of questions from other teachers about you and I'd like to think that I haven't wasted my time in my evaluations," She said, delicately pushing her glasses up her nose.

Tommy blinked in surprise. "What sort of questions."

"More like comments; you're very secretive, you don't go to the teacher's lounge, you're never where you're supposed to be for after school duties, all without giving a rational excuse," Principal Randall said primly.

 _Of course,_ Tommy thought. Ranger duties always reared their ugly heads at some point. And they'd been so busy the last couple of weeks. It was only the start of the new year and Tommy was already feeling like he was being run through the wringer.

"I do have my reasons," Tommy said calmly. "But they're indeed private."

"That won't fly with me, Dr. Oliver."

"Well, it's the only answer I can give you." Tommy turned as someone cleared their throat and he nodded to Conner and his parents. _Mother and Step-father,_ Tommy corrected himself. He looked over the paper in front of him, filled with the students' emergency contact information. "Mr. and Mrs. McKnight, it's great to see you. And you, of course, Conner. Glad to see you're up and awake." Tommy smiled when he saw the look Conner gave him.

"Oh, you know, early morning soccer practices," Conner said. "I leave it all out on the field." Tommy grinned, noticing the ball that he held between his palms.

"Yes, Conner, I can see that," he said. "Your travel team is going to be going to the state championship, right?"

Conner smiled and started to respond, but was cut off by his step-father. "We're here to talk about Conner's grades. Not his silly soccer dreams." Michael McKnight crossed his arms. "There's always time to play soccer.

"Yes, but there's always the chance that Conner could get an athletic scholarship," Tommy agreed. He sat behind his desk and flipped open his gradebook. "I'll admit that Conner's grades in my class haven't always been stellar. But I assure you, that he does eventually get the grasp of the material we're covering."

Mrs. McKnight smiled and nodded. "He sure has shown more initiative in studying for your class, Dr. Oliver. There's something about it that's grasped his attention more than others. It must be the dinosaurs."

"I'm sure that's it," Tommy said. He gave Conner a knowing smile, which Conner received. Then he noticed the way his step-father was looking at him and the smile was instantly wiped away, his shoulders rounding out. Tommy then cleared his throat. "His grades in his other classes hold him at a solid B average and that's great—"

"But he could be doing better, couldn't he?" Michael interrupted.

"Mr. McKnight, I assure you that at this school we don't let our students fall behind," Principal Randall said. "We have too many alternative and disciplinary actions to be put in place. Such as the detention that your son received the first day of school."

Conner grimaced and looked away when his parents turned to glare at him. Tommy looked over his glasses at Conner, who sank in his seat. Clearly, he hadn't ever mentioned it to them. "Yes, well, that was more of a scientific excursion that I've allowed him to help me with. Of which I've continued to allow him and a few of my other students to continue. I have an after-school science club that Conner has been a big help with." Tommy could feel Principal Randall staring at him out of the corner of his eye. Their ranger duties may as well be a 'science club' as far as anyone else knew.

It wasn't exactly a lie.

But he knew he would have to come up with some semblance of a real club later.

"Conner's part of an after-school science club?" Mrs. McKnight asked. "I never knew he was that interested."

"It's more for an extra credit sort of thing, I have some of my better students like Ethan James and Bailey Mitchell helping him and some of the others." It was amazing how easily the lie could roll from his lips. He'd become much too used to it over the years. "As I was saying before, Conner is a great student. It's just tests that get to him, there are some people who just don't do well on tests, and for Conner it brings down his otherwise good grades. His papers and presentations always fair better for him. Add that with his soccer abilities and he'll certainly go far. His leadership qualities can get him into any college he'd like."

"I sincerely doubt that," Principal Randall said under her breath. Tommy curled his fingers, trying not to get too angry. It at least appeared he was getting through to Conner's parents and that was all he needed to do. The rest of the meeting went well, he could see Conner opening up a little bit more.

The rest of his students' meetings went by quickly. They were doing well and there wasn't much that needed to be said about them. Then when it was Kira's turn his eyebrows rose in surprise when he saw her walk into the classroom by herself. She plopped herself down across from him and crossed her legs at the knee, tugging on the dirty laces of her shoes.

"Kira," he said slowly. "Where—"

"Where are your parents, Miss. Ford?" Principal Randall demanded. "It is mandatory that they come to assess your academic standing."

Kira waved her hand. "It's alright. I'll just talk about my grades, figure out what I'm doing wrong and we can go. I'll fill them in on it later," she explained. Tommy watched her. She continued to tug at her laces, glancing at him and towards the door as the seconds passed. "It's no big deal, they just work a lot."

Principal Randal shook her head. "Again, Miss. Ford, this is mandatory for parents. We send out reminder letters and phone calls to the house on a periodic basis. Did they not receive my messages?" She leaned towards the Yellow ranger, looking over her glasses and down her nose at her. "Be forewarned, Miss. Ford, I have ways of figuring out—"

"Oh, Kira, there you are." Kira's face paled as she turned towards the door, where her parents came through the door. Greer's eyes flashed as he strode over to his daughter, while her mother dropped into the seat next to her daughter. "We were looking for you this morning. Why didn't you tell us we were to go with you today?"

Kira hunched her shoulders the second her father moved to stand behind her. "I, uh, I guess I just forgot," she said.

"Well, then it's a good thing we keep up on things, isn't it?" Greer placed his hands on Kira's shoulders and squeezed. Kira flinched and lowered her gaze towards the floor. Tommy's eyebrows came together as he watched. "What kind of parents would we be if we didn't come to see how our daughter was doing with her school work." He lifted his steely gaze to Tommy. "I don't want to be a bad parent. You understand, Dr. Oliver."

Tommy shook his head. "I don't have any children, Mr. Ford. I feel that all of my students are my children and I'd like them to be the best they can be."

"So you understand our disappointment with Kira's deceit," Greer continued. He pressed his fingers tighter into Kira's shoulders. Kira pressed her lips together, slowly sinking further in her chair.

Principal Randall straightened up, tugged down the bottom of her blouse, and shot Kira a glare before leaving the room. Tommy let out a small sigh of relief, he could breathe a little easier with her gone. Still, it didn't look like Kira had the same luxury. She continued to keep her gaze down, not looking at anyone, even as Tommy spoke.

"I wouldn't say it's deceit," Tommy said quickly.

"With all due respect, Dr. Oliver, I feel we know Kira a little better than you do," Mrs. Ford said pleasantly. "Anything that doesn't have to do with music and she tries to keep it a secret. I can't imagine her grades are doing so well if we were asked to come in."

"All students were called in for today," Tommy said. He let out a long breath, trying to figure out what it was in that was making the warning go off in the back of his head. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. "It's nothing that has to do with Kira specifically."

"So how are her grades?" Mrs. Ford asked. "How's she doing in school?"

Right. That. Tommy flipped to Kira's page. "Kira's grades in her science, history, and math classes are alright. I enjoy having her in my class, she makes me think of different ways to teach and keep things interested. But her Music and English classes are very high. She definitely has a future there and it's something that's grown to be her passion." Kira started to smile a little. "Even her appearances at the Cybercafe have brought in quite a crowd as well as interest from a music manager, if the rumors are true." Tommy gave Kira a proud smile, but then realized he'd said something wrong.

Her smile had immediately turned to an expression of intense fear. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and she chewed her lower lip so hard it drew blood. Behind her, Greer grew rigid and Tommy could see the cold steel in his eyes make way to a raging fire. His cheeks flushed and he slowly removed his hands from Kira's shoulders. Mrs. Ford, all the while, crossed her legs the other way, draping her hands in her lap.

"You're still wasting your time with that crap?" Greer demanded.

Tommy was taken aback. "Mr. Ford—"

"I-it's not crap," Kira stammered. "Music is my life."

"Music isn't going to get you anywhere," Greer said. "A good education will. And I'm not going to have you waste my money on an education you're squandering away."

Kira turned in her seat, eyes wide with a silent plea. That made Tommy take pause. Kira was a strong girl in and out of battle. He'd never seen her look so helpless before. "I can do a lot with a music education, Dad. Even with song writing. I could go into advertising or marketing or even start my own production company."

"Don't you dare talk back to me," Greer snapped. He reached out and grabbed onto Kira's pigtails, wrapping his hand around them. He pulled her head back so she could look him in the eye and put his face close to hers. Kira winced, her shoulders hunching up by her ears, her eyes squeezing shut. "I told you to give up your music. It's a waste of time and I'm not going to have you waste my time. I warned you what would happen if you kept this up."

Kira's eyes widened even further. "Dad, not my instruments!"

"Shut up." Greer grabbed Kira's arm. "I warned you and you didn't listen. Your grades are suffering for something you're too stupid to make anyway."

"Mr. Ford, I don't think that's necessary," Tommy started.

"Like hell it isn't!" Greer shot back. He tightened his grasp on Kira's arm and forced her up out of the chair. A squeal of pain escaped Kira's lips as she followed his movement. "No kid of mine is going to laze around and fail their classes. I don't raise dumb children."

"Ow," Kira said. She sucked in a breath through her teeth. "Dad, you're hurting me."

"And I'm going to hurt you worse if you don't get!" Greer pushed Kira out in front of him. "You know that we've said your school work is always important." He smacked Kira on the back of the head before pushing her out of the room. "I can't believe you embarrassed me like this."

Tommy opened his mouth to protest once more but Mrs. Ford stepped forward and held her hand out to Tommy, who mutely shook it. "It was great meeting you, Dr. Oliver. It's nice to put the name to the face after so long. I hope you have a good day." And she swept out of the room.

Tommy stood there, stunned.

It was like she hadn't seen anything happen.

Once his room was empty, Tommy pulled out his cell phone and quickly dialed a number. He'd use his communicator, but this was an important call, he couldn't have anything else become jeopardized. It wasn't nearly as important as this.

"Hey, it's Tommy," Tommy said as soon as Jason picked up. "Listen, I've got something I need to tell you and then I need you to tell the others." He needed Jason to know first, in case they needed help from a lawyer.

"Is everything okay?" Jason asked.

"We've got a problem with one of the rangers," Tommy explained. "With Kira."

* * *

 **A/N:** Well, things certainly aren't getting much better for Kira. But now the Thunderstorm episode has started and, honestly, it was some of my favorites of this season. I'll update again soon.

Thanks to **Adela, brankel1, lizziestrong, and Ashley** for reviewing.

 **~Av**


	44. Chapter 44: Calm Before the Storm

**A/N:** There are spoilers for the Bailey series in this chapter. But I'm sure it'll just get you guys excited for it.

* * *

 **Chapter 44**

 _Calm Before the Storm_

* * *

Bailey lifted her phone and checked the time, using her hand to shield her screen from the sunlight. The sun was at its highest point in the sky, beating her with its warm rays. A motorcycle whizzed by behind her, making her jump and let out a startled scream before she turned away, her cheeks blooming red.

 _How stupid can you be, Bay?_ She asked herself. It was a motorcycle race, things were supposed to be noisy. And yet, she couldn't help her slight sense of anxiety. Not for those that were racing that day under the hot sun, not for the fact that she and her friends had ducked out on their lunch hour to see the race, but because it made her think about her parents.

Was their car engine gunning that loudly when Tommy had hit them? Did they scream, seeing his car seconds before their lives were taken? Did Tommy feel any sort of guilt about what he'd done? He hadn't told them for so long, kept that secret to himself and for what? To wait until his _powers_ were going bad for the motivation to tell her and Avalon? What kind of relationship was it where secrets were kept like that? Even when Avalon was in the Vipers she told Bailey everything that was going on. Not that Bailey couldn't suss it out herself.

 _Coming home in bruises and a black and blue stomach is hard to miss, yeah?_ She thought.

But if she were so smart, how could she miss something that was right in front of her? The timeline for it had lined up so perfectly for God's sake. Or maybe she refused to believe it. It was hard hearing the news the first time, getting that phone call saying they needed to go back to Angel Grove. But to have Tommy sit her down and say, " _I haven't been completely honest with you guys. And I know now this is something I need to tell you, that I need to stop bottling up. I've felt so much guilt and pain over the things I've done and I know it's going to hurt you more the longer I keep it a secret."_

And then he came out with it. He'd killed their parents.

And Bailey hadn't been abel to look at him the same way.

With a huff, Bailey lowered her phone from her hand and stood on her toes, leaning back and forth, eyes scanning the crowd in front of her. She frowned, not finding who she was looking for. She placed her hands on her hips, pushing out her lower lip. "Fred said he'd be here, I don't see him."

"I didn't know he was so into motorcycles," Kira said. She rubbed her shoulder. "Then again, I didn't really know there was a fanbase for this sort of thing."

"Yeah, until you thought you had a date," Conner teased. Kira glared at him so fiercely his smile faded and he turned away from her, clapping his hands together.

Ethan continued to look over his shoulders every time someone yelled or hollered. He flinched when someone pushed his shoulder and twisted around to face his friends. "Guys, I'm not kidding. Randall always knows when someone leaves campus or sneaks out or something."

"Dude, relax, we're on our lunch break," Conner said. "And besides, I had to do _something_ to get away from my mom and dad." He crossed his arms. "I don't know about you, but there's nothing worse than having your parents stare at you when you're getting your grades read back to them."

"Well, I think I have you beat on that one," Kira said. She chewed her lip and looked away when Conner turned to her. She chuckled and shrugged. "I mean, having my parents around in general doesn't actually equate fun-times."

"At least your dad showed," Trent pointed out. He reached up and scratched the back of his head. "When he doesn't turn into a complete lizard monster, my dad's usually pretty reliable." He reached up and pulled his baseball cap low over his forehead.

"Well, he never really seemed so interested before," Conner said. His eyes widened when Kira planted her hands on her hips and turned to glare at him. "That's so not what I meant. Dude, I'm sorry."

Trent smirked back at him, but didn't appear to show any offense.

Bailey huffed. "You guys are freaking out about nothing, yeah? Principal Randall is never going to know we left. She's too busy running around the school trying to give people detention while also breathing down Tommy's neck. And from what we've seen, she doesn't tend to give up on the people she's going after." She lifted her hand and waved it back and forth across her friends. "Case in point."

"Hey, I only got detention for playing soccer," Conner said. " _You_ got in detention for laughing and making fun of Dr. O."

"He's my _brother_ what else am I supposed to do? Treat him like an _actual_ bloody human being?" Bailey rolled her eyes for added effect and her friends all laughed. Bailey laughed with them, before a twinge of guilt moved through her. She was still angry at Tommy for what he'd said about their parents. It was hard to get over the idea knowing he was the reason for the added pain to her life. It was like they couldn't go more than a few feet forward in their lives without something coming to destroy all of their happiness.

And right now, her happiness was being destroyed by her annoyance towards her boyfriend. _Well, sort of boyfriend,_ she reminded herself and made a note to talk to him about it. There was only so much back and forth they could do with it and after what she'd been told, she wanted at least something concrete to hold onto.

"Hey, sorry I'm late," Fred said, walking up behind her.

Bailey turned and gave him a hug. Then took a step back and noticed his attire. "I didn't know you were racing today," she said.

"Yeah, I was just making sure that my bike was up and ready to go," Fred said, tucking his helmet under his arm. He then turned to Kira, Conner, Ethan, and Trent and nodded to them, lifting his hand in greeting. "Hey guys, I didn't know you were going to be here."

"Yeah, Blake Bradley invited us," Kira said. "I met him at the café this morning."

"Sounds like him," Fred said. "He's always working hard to spread word about the sport. But he's gotten so many fans lately that he's hardly had any time for himself." He looked up as an announcer's voice blared through the speakers to start the race. "Oh, hey, I've got to go. I'll see you guys at the end, alright?"

"Sounds good," Trent agreed.

Bailey smiled and stood on her tip-toes to give Fred a kiss on the cheek. "For luck," She said, taking a step back. "Though it's not like you need it."

Fred smiled in response, but it didn't reach his eyes. Bailey chewed her lower lip, noticing the way he paused and looked at her funny before backing away to put on his helmet and move over to the starting line. Bailey folded her arms and watched as he walked away, twisting her mouth to the side. Then she turned her head towards her friends, noticing they were all watching her and snapped, "What?"

"Nothing." Ethan held up his hands. "Just trying to figure out what I'm going to be buried in when my parents found out I ditched school."

"Worry about it later, man, you're already here." Conner patted him on the shoulder and dragged the two to the side of the track where a rope had been set up to block off the course. They pushed their way to the front and turned towards the starting line, watching as the racers got on their bikes and started them up.

Engines revved through the air as the racers got ready to go. Finally, the checkered flag waved and the motorcycles shot forward, kicking up a cloud of dust as they went. Conner, Kira, Ethan, Trent, and Bailey all cheered as Blake, Fred, and the rest of the racers shot by on their motorcycles. Twisting and turning, they flew over the dirt track. They went around five times before the last lap where Blake pulled into the lead and shot over the finish line.

Once the rangers finally made their way to the finish line, after the crowd that had formed, they found Blake and Fred high-fiving each other. Bailey hurried over to Fred and threw her arms around his neck. "Fred, that was beauty!"

"Thanks," he said, hugging her back. "I let the throttle out a little too much on the last turn so Blake managed to blast by me."

"Oh come on, man, you almost had me," Blake returned. Then he held out his arms for Bailey to give him a hug, too. "Bay! It's been so long since the last time we saw each other! How are you?'

"I'm great," Bailey replied. She tucked her hair behind her ear. "I'm surprised you're here," She said honestly. "What about the others? Dustin? Hunter? Tori? How are all of them?"

"Just about the same," Blake replied. "Working out at the ninja school—"

"—I _told_ you there was a ninja school!" Conner cried, making Ethan, Kira, and Trent all jump. He blanched and brought his hand up through his hair. "I mean, Eric was always talking about it. I'm just…glad that he was right. For once."

"The world is ending," Kira teased.

"Wait, you guys know each other?" Ethan asked, pointing back and forth between Blake and Bailey.

Bailey waved her hand. "Yeah. Before we were in Reefside, Av and I were hanging out in Blue Bay Harbor for a while." She reached out and patted Blake on the shoulder. "That's where I met Blake and his brother Hunter and our friends Dustin, Tori, and Shane."

"Wow, small world," Conner said. "it seems like you lived just about everywhere."

Bailey shrugged. "Only Melbourne, Angel Grove, Mariner Bay, Blue Bay Harbor, and now Reefside." Her eyes shifted over her friends. "We moved a lot."

"I think they can see that, Bay," Fred teased her. He spread his arms and motioned towards the racing area around them. "So? What'd you think of the race?" He asked.

"It was awesome," Kira said. She rolled her eyes, noticing Blake's grin. "Yeah, yeah, rub it in why don't ya. I was wrong and you were right."

Blake held his hands up. "Don't say, I didn't warn ya. Once you get sucked in, there's no way you get back out."

"Tell that to my dad," Fred said. "He tried racing once, crashed, and now practically cries whenever he comes near a regular bike. Of course, this is after his whole sky-diving incident back then and the bungee jumping incident."

"I thought you said your dad didn't like bungee jumping."

"He doesn't. And he found that out the hard way." Fred laughed and hugged his helmet to his chest. "I told him about running into you again and he said he'd like to see you again. Do you want to come over for dinner or something?"

"I'd love to see him again," Bailey said. "It's been so long." _And it's a good way to get out of the house for a while._ Fred's eyes shifted for a moment and Bailey knew what he was going to ask. "Oh, Av'll say it's okay. She loves you as much as I do." The words came from her mouth seconds before she could stop them. Her eyes widened in surprise and she took a step back from him, who looked just as surprised as she did.

An awkward silence filled the air and Conner quickly, thankfully, said, "Thanks for hooking us up," to break the tension.

 _Thank God for him saying the right thing for once,_ Bailey thought, bringing her hand up to rub her forehead. "Yeah, thanks," She added.

"It was some of the most fun I've had in a while," Kira agreed.

"Even if we get detention for it," Ethan said. "Or suspended. Or expelled. My mom and dad just figured out a good way for me to attend Harvard, Dartmouth, or MIT, I can't ruin that now!" He started to chew on his fingernails. "I'm telling you, Principal Randall is going to find us. It's just going to take a minute before something happens."

"What could possibly happen?" Blake asked. "If you just mention you're with me, then—"

"You clearly don't know Principal Randall," Trent said. "She practically goes on a heat-seeking mission to destroy any child's happiness. And she can do it simply by looking at you."

"Well, you're already out, there isn't much more she can do, right?" Blake asked. He thought for a moment, licking his lips. "So what are you guys doing tonight? You want to grab a bite?" Immediately the smile was removed from his face when something on his track suit made a peculiar dinging sound.

Bailey felt the hairs on the back of her neck start to rise. She'd recognize that beeping anyway. There was no way it was possible. _Our powers were destroyed,_ she thought, remembering how they all had to give them up to close the Abyss of Evil so Lothor wouldn't be able to return. It appeared to be true, however, when Blake turned to the side, pressing a hand to his chest, looking stricken.

"Ah, actually, it looks like something's come up and I've got to reschedule," he said quickly.

Bailey took in a deep breath and exchanged a glance with Fred, who looked back at her with as much concern that she showed. She stared to say something, "Blake, is that—"

"I'll see you guys later, alright," he said quickly. He cast a sidelong glance at Bailey before dismounting from his bike and pushed it away as fast as he could go.

Ethan paused for a second then said, "Called it. I knew something weird was going to happen." Then their morphers went off, making him tilt his head back and look to the sky. "Okay, either the big guy's playing a joke on me or I'm starting to become psychic. Maybe it's a side-effect from my powers!"

"Or maybe it's a side-effect of you being a nerd," Conner shot back. Ethan glared back at her and Kira immediately stepped between them, pushing them apart.

"Look, we've got to handle this alright?" She said, looking back and forth between them. "Kill each other later, I'll be sure to provide the music and the snacks."

"Be safe, alright guys?" Fred asked.

"No problem," Bailey said quickly. She raised her morpher. "Let's go!" She teleported away without waiting for a response. She landed at the lab seconds before Kira, Conner, Ethan, and Trent arrived beside her. Hayley and Tommy sat at a monitoring computer with Billy and Avalon hovering behind them.

"What's going on?" Trent asked as they walked over.

"Take a look for yourselves," Hayley said. She motioned towards the screen and the rangers watched as a trio of rangers, red, yellow, and a aqua blue created havoc as they ran back and forth across a nearby alley way. Bailey gasped as she watched them, shooting blasts of energy into nearby stores and cars, causing them to blow up, shooting streaks of fire into the sky.

 _That's not Dustin, Tori, and Shane,_ she thought. _It can't be. They wouldn't do this._

Conner seemed to agree with her as he said, "Evil power rangers? How is that possible?" The hand on the back of Tommy's chair turned white under the force of his grasp. Even from where she stood, he could see his hand shaking.

"There's been an evil energy surge over California over the past couple of hours," Tommy added. He nodded over to his oldest friend. "Billy saw it first but then we were able to pinpoint it to the Abyss of Evil."

"I've deduced the most accurate coordinates for the surge and I'm pretty sure the Abyss of Evil has been opened," Billy agreed. "Now, I'm not sure this has anything to do with Mesogog or the others, but it's not something that can be ruled out."

"Mesogog has done a lot of strange things so far, opening the Abyss of Evil wouldn't be so strange, mate," Avalon agreed.

"So…" Bailey swallowed hard before saying the next few words. "You think Lothar's back?" She held her breath, waiting for her brother's response. As much as she was mad at him, she knew he'd never lie to her. Or at least, not lie to her again.

"Unfortunately," Tommy concurred. "But as we always know, there's only one way to deal with these fakes."

"Trent, we need you stay here with us," Avalon said, placing her hand on his shoulder. She nodded over to the others. "This lot can handle these guys. But until we figure out how to get you to control your powers completely, it may not be safe."

"Mesogog may be waiting for you with a trap," Billy added.

Trent sighed and nodded. "Yeah, oaky," he agreed.

Conner nodded to his friends and they all took a step back so they had space to morph. "You guys ready?" Conner asked his friends.

"Ready!" They replied. "Dino Thunder, Power Up, Ha!"

The rangers morphed and teleported down to the clearing where the evil Ninja Storm rangers were. Bailey quickly pulled out her Cephala club and held it tightly in her hand, looking to see if she could find her friends. It didn't take long for them to find her. Her heart sank down to her feet. It was real, all too real. Something happened to them and they were destroying Reefside.

"That's far enough," Conner declared, holding up his hand.

"Maybe you're lost," Shane growled, standing in front of the Dino Thunder Red Ranger. He tilted his head to the side, studying all of them. "We didn't invite you here."

Kira brought her hand up to cover her mouth in a fake gasp of surprise. "Our invitations must've gotten lost in the mail. Sorry."

"Yeah, and maybe you forgot," Ethan added. "You're supposed to beat the bad guys, not _be_ the bad guys." He took a step back, watching as the Ninja Storm rangers continued to advance towards them, not stopping as they came closer and closer. "We're here to remind you of that."

"Good, bad, what's the difference?" Tori asked, tossing her head back and forth. "It's all about _power!_ " She clenched her hand into a fist to emphasize her point. Then she lowered her sword and pointed it directly at the rangers. "And our power is going to _destroy_ you!"

"I guess we'll going to have to fight them," Conner said. His voice sounded to be on the edge of quivering. They'd faced multiple monsters and mooks over their time as being rangers but they hadn't had to fight. "Let's do it, guys."

Bailey nodded and stood along with their friends. They watched and waited for the Ninja Storm rangers to come closer before starting to fight. Bailey ran directly towards Tori, then skidded to a stop, nearly running right into a Kelzak. She ducked out of the way and kicked it straight in the chest. Kira followed her lead and leapt over Bailey's head, landing on another Kelzak that got in her way. She made quick work of them before the two turned to attack Tori.

But Tori was ready for them. She turned around and ran directly towards the girls. Bailey ducked out of the way and Tori rammed into the side of an abandoned car parked directly behind them. She flipped backwards and summoned her sword, slashing Kira in the chest, knocking her aside. Bailey dropped to the ground and did a judo sweep, kicking Tori's legs out from beneath her. Then she flipped on top of her friend, pushing her Cephala Club down over Tori's sword, pushing her arms back.

"Tori," Bailey pleaded. "I don't want to hurt you, you're my friend."

"Your mistake then," Tori said. She slowly pushed Bailey's club away from her, powering her back. "I don't have any friends."

"Wait, Tori?" Kira repeated. "Blake's friend? That means—"

Kira cut off by Tori's quick movement. With her enhanced speed, she wrapped her arms around Bailey and flipped back to her feet in a spinning arc. Once back on her feet, Tori slashed Kira across the front with her sword once more then threw Bailey after her, where she smacked into the car and crashed to the ground.

Ethan and Dustin were in a very well-matched fight. No matter what Dustin threw his way, Ethan would dodge it with his Tricera shield, threatening to knock the yellow Ninja Storm ranger off-balance. But Dustin would regain it quickly and flip himself over Ethan to get a new angle on fighting back. He leapt up onto the roof of a car and turned as Ethan tried to strike him in the front. But with a series of backhand springs, Dustin managed to avoid the melee before throwing himself forward onto Ethan, knocking him to the ground. He picked the blue ranger up by the front of his suit and with a strong kick to the stomach, sent him flying to the other side of the alleyway.

Then Conner and Shane then started to fight. They rolled away from each other and started to fight again, this time Conner crashing into an ice cream kart behind him. Shane flipped over it and struck his sword towards Conner, point down, directed towards Conner's heart. He rolled out of the way and used his enhanced speed from the TRex to get back to his feet. Conner summoned his staff and the two charged towards each other, overpowering each other in a dance. Finally, Conner struck Shane in the front with his staff at the same time Shane reached around and struck him in the back, knocking the mover.

Conner crashed into the brick wall behind him and fell to the ground in a heap with his friends joining him seconds later. From beside her, Bailey heard Conner gasped in shock, these new guys were powerful, it shouldn't be too hard to beat them. Their powers should've been slightly weakened as they had given them up and they'd lay dormant for so long.

Something was seriously wrong.

"They're too strong," Conner said, struggling to his feet. "We need to regroup."

"No," Bailey replied. "We have to fight against them their way." She stood up straight. "Power down!" She demorphed from her dino thunder suit and faced her former friends with an expression of sheer determination. "I said I didn't want to fight against you guys, but if you want it, you've got it."

"Bring it on," Dustin replied with a taunting wave of his fingers.

 _If this worked with my Ankylosaurus powers, it should work now._ Bailey twisted her wrist, her morpher changing from her Dino Thunder morpher to another one her friends had never seen before. She ran her fingers over it, smiling at the memories that immediately came back.

"Ninja Storm, Ranger Form! Ha!" she called.

* * *

 **A/N:** So, this chapter was all about Bailey and the next one (fight aside) is all about Avalon. Hope you guys liked it.

Recently, I've come to a revelation; (if you follow me on Twitter you know this) over the last couple of years I've put WAY too much pressure on myself to have my stories updated at a certain time on a certain day and they be a certain length. I'm removing that pressure from myself. I'm updating this story/my stories when I get the chance and when I feel like it's ready to post. So chapters will fluctuate from shorter to longer ones, but on the plus side (I feel) they'll be updated more often unless something big comes up. Because without the added pressure it's much more fun.

Thanks to **AliciaLouiseVA123, XoxMountainGirlxoX, brankel1, Adela, and Ashley** for reviewing.

 **~Av**


	45. Chapter 45: Zeltrax

**A/N:** Again, fair warning, spoilers for the Bailey series with the rest of these chapters.

* * *

 **Chapter 45**

 _Zeltrax_

* * *

"Power of Metal!" Bailey called, after morphing into the Ninja Storm purple ranger. "Hiya!"

She threw out her hand. The cars standing around the rangers immediately started to twist and unfurl their front bumpers. They flew and crashed into Shane, Dustin, and Tori, knocking them to the ground.

They started to get back up when Bailey sent another wave of metal towards them. This time pieces of roofing from the building around them. She cracked them apart into smaller pieces before making them rain down on the rangers, forcing them to be pinned to the ground.

Then she turned to her new friends and nodded. "Let's go!" She said and teleported.

"Right." Conner, Kira, and Ethan teleported after her.

The rangers arrived back in the dino lab and demorphed back to their casual clothes. Avalon walked over to her sister and wrapped her arms around her in a hug. Bailey lifted her arms and hugged her back. She knew how hard it was to have to fight against your friends, but to see it this way…after everything that'd happened last time, it had to be harder. There were a lot of things they had to face when in Blue Bay Harbor, some of the hardest things they'd ever had to come to terms with and it wasn't something they were completely over yet.

Avalon could feel her little sister shaking and wanted nothing more than to take that fear away. But had no idea where to start. Being a ranger was always hard when you had to handle things like that and it was always going to happen. "Everything's okay, Bay," Avalon said to her. "We'll figure out what to do, yeah?"

Bailey nodded and stepped back from her sister. She ran a hand through her hair and turned back to her friends, who looked completely defeated. "Don't worry, guys, we'll figure out something. They were regular rangers like us at one point, we can turn them back."

"The important thing here is that you guys are alright and that we learned something," Tommy added. Hayley nodded next to him.

"What it's like having our butts kicked?" Conner asked, irritation dripping in his voice. He clenched his jaw, turning his gaze away from his friends. There were enough difficulties they had of being a ranger, but having to also worry about being defeated by other rangers seriously made his ego take a dive. "Yeah, that's a lesson I seriously wanted. I would've rather stayed in school."

"Great, get our asses kicked _and_ Principal Randall is going to kick our butts for skipping," Ethan said.

Kira's nose wrinkled. "It's good to know where your priorities lie, Ethan."

Tommy chuckled, looking over the teenagers that stood in front of him. There were plenty things he remembered about being a teenager and being a ranger. Working through his insecurities as a leader was certainly one of them. That was something Conner struggled with. Dealing with his personal life along with being a ranger; Kira had that covered. And worrying about school work as he continued to move up further and further in school; Ethan had that role. Keeping his friends and working out how to still be a normal teenager; that was everything Bailey worked to do.

No matter how many ranger teams came and went, the same problems continued to rear its heads. That's what the former rangers were for, to be mentors and make sure everything was okay with them all. So, what was he supposed to do when one of the issues was the parents? He looked over at Avalon, letting her know there was something he needed to speak to her about and she nodded back.

"No, that it'll take a lot more to defeat them," Tommy said, finally answering Conner's biting question.

"More?" Kira asked. Her lips turned down in disappointment. They were finally starting to learn, Avalon realized. That there was more to being a ranger than being able to beat everything with a single punch. There were going to be some things that gave them even more of a challenge than they'd be used to. The Horoscope monsters and the Seven Deadly Sins monsters came to mind almost immediately. Those had certainly been ones that gave her and her friends a run for their money. "Like what?"

"Well, we don't know for sure," Hayley said. She turned to the side and lifted herself out of her seat at the computer. "But we'll figure it out. We'll have to. These guys were the good guys not too long ago, so whatever it was, something had to have messed with their minds or something."

"Yeah, why don't we just use our dino zords and kick their butts?" Conner asked. He folded his arms, the sleeves of his flannel shirt fluttering with the speed of his movement. He was mad, madder than Avalon had ever seen him.

"I'm with Conner, why not just force them into an attack until they lost enough power they demorph?" Trent suggested.

"Because they're rangers who were once good and something happened to them," Avalon said. She nodded over to Tommy. "It's something he's had to deal with before and his friends never gave up on him until they figured it out. They would fight him, but they'd never fight him until the death." She took in a deep breath. "So until we figure it out, you should just defend yourselves while the rest of us figures out what happened."

"Billy and I are already working on something that we think may be able to track it," Hayley agreed. "But it's only preliminary." She then paused, tilting her head to the side. "You know, there's something we haven't even considered," she said after a second.

Bailey briefly closed her eyes, quickly figuring out who it was Hayley was referring to. "Mesogog, right?" She asked. When she got nods in response she ran a hand through her hair. "If something like that happens…Mesogog is already working with Rita and Zedd and those other freaks, what's he going to do with Lothor? This is bloody _Lothor_ we're talking about. There's not much he can do, yeah?"

"Hopefully, that's something we won't have to see," Tommy said. He nodded to them. "Why don't you guys hang out for a while, cool off. We'll let you know if something comes up."

"Yeah, alright," Conner agreed with a sigh.

"You've already missed enough school as it is, I'd probably give your parents a call and let them know where you disappeared to," Avalon suggested. She noticed a stricken look on Kira's face and her eyebrows came together in confusion.

"Actually, guys why don't you go ahead?" Tommy broke in. "Kira, I want to work with you on some of your fighting, alright?"

"What's wrong with my fighting?" Kira asked, her eyes shifting in confusion and…Avalon thought she saw a little bit of relief in her eyes. "I thought I was doing pretty good."

"You are, it's just there are some mental blocks that I think you could work on."

Kira nodded then scowled when Conner and Ethan snickered behind her. "Mental blocks?" Conner repeated. "I could've told you that." His laughter stopped when Kira turned around and started to throw a punch his way, but then stopped. She lowered her hand back to her side and turned around to face her teacher and friends. "We'll, just, uh, we'll just go."

Tommy nodded and lifted a hand to wave goodbye to the rangers. Hayley excused herself to go to the Cybercafé and Bailey excused herself to her room, leaving Tommy, Kira, and Avalon down in the dino lab. Kira sighed, kicking towards the ground as she said, "I'm guessing this isn't about my grades."

"Your grades are spectacular, Kira," Tommy said. "Well, maybe not in history but that's not the point. I wanted to talk to you about what I saw today."

Kira folded her arms, hugging them tightly to her chest. She shrugged, looking at the floor. "There's nothing to say," she said. "My dad, sometimes he…" she trailed off, looking for the right words.

"Let me guess," Avalon started. "Sometimes he gets mad? Sometimes you make him mad over something so little that he loses his temper. You try your hardest to walk on your tip-toes around him so that you don't make any sound that'll set him off? That you try to do everything you can to his needs but it's never enough?" Tommy glanced at her but didn't respond. Kira, on the other hand, slowly lifted her chin and looked Avalon in the eye. "And there's always a lot of pressure put on you in multiple areas of your life."

"I…" Kira whispered.

"Kira, I saw the way you acted around your father today," Tommy said, grasping her attention. "I saw what he did."

"He didn't do anything," Kira insisted. She raised her hands then slapped them to her sides again. "In our family we deal with a lot of tough love and—"

"Tough love that your mother turns a blind eye to?" Tommy interrupted.

Kira took in a deep, shuddering breath. Tears reached her eyes, she blinked them away and took in another deep breath, steeling herself. Avalon watched as she did so, feeling dismay cover her. There were too many things that were similar about the situation and it was really starting to become eerie. First Chase was back in Reefside, now she was slated to speak at a trial, and the next thing she knew, one of her new teammates was being beaten the same way that Chase had beaten her. The only difference being that Kira's father probably, actually still loved her and she was never sure that Chase ever did.

"You don't understand," Kira said. But she didn't say anything else after that.

"My ex-boyfriend used to hurt me the same way," Avalon revealed. She noticed the look Tommy gave her, one of complete shock, but ignored him. "He used to beat me up all the time and I took it because I thought he loved me and I loved him. It took a long time for it to stop and for me to realize it wasn't a good thing to protect him. Your protecting your dad isn't going to help."

"And what if something happens?" Kira demanded. "What if he, I don't know, decides to come after me or something?"

Avalon made a face. "Did you forget that we have ranger powers?" She then turned her face to Tommy, who shot her a disapproving glance while Kira said, "That hasn't done anything to help me since I got them if you haven't noticed."

"I have a friend whose father is a lawyer," Tommy said. "And through our past,"—he motioned between himself and Avalon—"we have some connections with those in law enforcement and—"

"No," Kira said quickly, firmly. "I don't…I don't need any help. I don't need any lawyers, I don't need any police. Nothing's going on."

"Kira."

"I can handle it myself!"

With that, Kira teleported out of the dino lab. Tommy sighed heavily, running his hands over his hair before turning back to Avalon, folding her arms. He looked at her for a moment then asked, "How come you never told me about Chase?"

"Because it happened before I met you," Avalon explained. She shifted her gaze from him. "And a little bit longer after I knew you guys. But it stopped pretty quickly. I guess, at the time, I never really thought it was a big deal."

"And you never told anyone?"

"…I told Billy," Avalon explained, almost through gritted teeth. Just mentioning his name sent a flash of annoyance through her. "A long, long, _long_ time ago I was having trouble sleeping because I was having some nightmares about Chase and the Vipers. So I told him."

"But you never said anything."

A wry smile came to Avalon's lips. "I was a little more preoccupied with the idea of potentially being stomped to death by a skyscraping monster that I didn't first see coming." Tommy smiled a little. "I don't know why you're so surprised, secrets with my family… _our_ family aren't so weird."

Tommy lowered his head for a moment. "I wanted to tell you about them, I promise—"

"—You know me, Tommy, I can't really hold a grudge over things like this or else I'd be a hypocrite," Avalon said. "And I've changed over the years, if you haven't noticed. I don't get as angry for tough decisions as I used to be."

"Yeah, and if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were actually happy," Tommy agreed.

Avalon shook her head. "Not 100% but I'm getting there." She then nodded to where Kira had just been standing. "Take it from me, you can't force her to get help, yeah? You'll have to wait for things to get worse and, unfortunately, it'll get worse fast." Tommy nodded. Avalon turned on her heel and left the dino lab, going up to her room. She pushed open the door and found Bailey sitting on her bed, hugging a pillow to her chest as she stared sullenly at the floor. "For someone who loved her ninja storm powers so much, you look really bummed."

"I reckon I'm more bummed about having to fight them," Bailey said. "It was great being able to use the powers again, losing them like that…" she shook her head. Avalon lowered herself to her bed and studied her sister carefully. She simultaneously pouted and chewed her lip, the universal sign she was worrying about something.

"This doesn't have to do with Shane, Dustin, or Tori, does it?" Avalon surmised. Bailey shrugged. "And it can't be a school thing, I was dragged to all of your teachers to hear how, once again, you're the best thing the school has ever seen." Bailey's spirits lifted enough so that Avalon could see her ego was working in overtime. "So this has to do with something else. I'm guessing, Fred?"

Bailey nodded and hugged the pillow tighter to her chest. "Yeah, it has to do with Fred."

Avalon grinned. " _Everything_ with you has to do with Fred, Bay. You two have been going out practically since you met. It's kind of cute, really." Bailey threw her pillow at Avalon and she caught it against her chest. "Okay, what's going on with Fred? Is he still running around the world with his dad?"

"Yeah," Bailey agreed. "He's always popping in and out somewhere. I keep in touch with emails and texts—"

"—Explains why Tommy nearly had a heart attack when he got your last phone bill."

"—and it's always great to see him."

"—But?" Avalon prompted. She honestly had no idea where this was going.

"I…sort of…told him I loved him today," Bailey said. As soon as the words left her lips she started to move in hyper drive, getting up from the bed and pacing back and forth, speaking just as rapidly. "I didn't meant to say it. It just came out. And the way he looked at me, oh my god, I think he hates me. He looked like he never wanted to hear me say it again or, or maybe he _liked_ to hear it. But he didn't say anything back. Maybe I shouldn't have said it. What do you think?"

Avalon waited until her sister finally stopped talking before mulling over the words. Bailey'd said she loved Fred. Honestly, it was obvious to anyone that knew either of them that they were in love. Puppy love at first, probably, they really hit it off when first meeting and he had taken on the news of her being a ranger very well. Over the years he was a good ally to her and the rest of the ranger team, whomever it was at the time. _Though it can't be easy to have to introduce yourself and how you know the ranges time and time again,_ Avalon thought.

She understood Bailey's plight, ironically enough. She'd only _just_ said to Zack that she may still be in love with Billy. The way she felt when seeing him again the first time…the way his arms wrapped around her when they hugged, it was like the clouds parted and there was nothing but sunshine. And yet she was simultaneously angry at him. Angry for him hurting her so easily but cutting her out as soon as he left Angel Grove. Angry at herself for the way her heart fluttered when she saw him, how her knees felt weak whenever he looked at her.

How she knew almost instantly that she had never gotten over him and probably never would. She'd dated after breaking up with Billy, Jason being the most prolific out of them all. But they both knew they were rebounding for each other; Jason after breaking up with Emily and Avalon who was still reeling from her breakup with Billy and his subsequent silent treatment. Still, it was a good way to put a plug in the hole in her heart.

Now that he was back, now that she had to see him every day she felt nothing but…anxiety, pain, fear…everything she'd never been known for but still managed to feel.

"Av?" Bailey's voice interrupted her thoughts. She sat down next to her sister and peered into her face. "How did you know you were in love with Billy?"

 _How did she…?_ It took Avalon a second to realize her little sister meant when they were younger. When things were easier. "It was kind of easy," she said honestly. "We spent a lot of time together but when we weren't…I missed him. I always used to think that was so lame. That you couldn't be without someone for more than a few minutes. But I reckon I slowly understood what it meant. I knew I loved him because I couldn't imagine myself without him, he made me a better person, he made me feel whole." She nodded to her sister. "Do you feel that way about Fred?"

"I think so," Bailey whispered.

"Then it's not bad that you told him. Even if it takes some time for him to say anything back it's better that you told him than keeping it inside. It'll tear you up." _And at the moment, I can literally feel myself going crazy._ She wondered if it was possible with her powers to erase Zack's mind. "Try not to freak out about it so much, Bay. Things like this always tend to work out."

Bailey didn't look convinced.

"Do you think if things didn't work out we'd be here in Reefside right now?"

Bailey shook her head.

"Exactly." Avalon wrapped her arms around her sister. "Everything'll be okay, sis. I promise."

* * *

Later that afternoon, Tommy and Billy were working in the dino lab with Trent, trying to get him to focus on his powers so that they didn't corrupt him. They stood beside the computers, watching his power levels rise and fall while Avalon fought against him.

She fought as hard as she could, making Trent do the same, before projecting him into a state of sheer exhaustion, just like they'd be where they'd have to morph to get more power. "Okay," Avalon nodded to him. "Try it again this time."

Trent nodded and held up his wrist. "White Ranger, Dino Power!" He morphed. The second the suit was on him, he started to scream, falling to his knees. Parts of his suit continued to appear and re-appear on his body as he struggled to hold onto it. Finally, the suit formed around him and he sucked in large gasps of air.

"We've got a power surge," Tommy reported from his computer.

"That power surge should be normal," Billy explained, arms folded. "There White Dino Thunder power was created by pure energy that hadn't been harnessed like the ones you and Hayley had been handling." He licked his lips. "It'll take a considerable amount of time to master it. But with the way you're going, Trent, you'll figure it out."

"Power down!" Trent de-morphed and Avalon reached out to steady his arm, keeping him from falling to the ground. Sweat poured down his forehead. "I don't get it," he said. "I've been testing this out…for a while now. Why haven't I been improving?"

"Shot answer, mate, is probably your illness," Avalon explained. "Your body's already weak and adding in so much power it's like…overcompensating and unable to handle it." She bobbed her head back and forth. "Though, like Billy said, there's a chance that it's just the raw energy of the power in general that's difficult. Or maybe you're holding back." Trent shook his head, started to answer, but took deep breaths instead. "It's okay, mate, try not to push yourself too hard."

"I want to check out your vitals, Trent," Billy said. "Now after we've got some more insight into your power threshold." He tapped his chin. "Maybe I can take a look at your dino gem as well, get a better idea over what's sourcing the output of power."

"Yeah," Trent agreed. "That's fine."

Billy moved to take Avalon's place to hold Trent up, his hand brushing over hers. He glanced at her and Avalon caught his gaze for a second before tearing her eyes away. She turned her back to him and went over to Tommy, who had turned his attention to the maps that scanned the city. "Did you find them yet?" She asked, sliding into the seat next to him. She could feel Billy's eyes boring into her back as he and Trent walked to the medical section of the dino lab. "Any leads?"

"No, but considering what we've been through, I have an idea that we'll see something soon," Tommy said. He looked at Avalon out of the corner of his eye. "So, Zack mentioned something to me—"

"—The boofhead has a big mouth," Avalon swiftly interrupted. "And, sorry, bro, but I'm not talking about it."

"Okay." Tommy dropped it, although he smiled. The two continued to scan the screens for a moment before alarms started to go off. "We've got something," he said, pulling up camera footage outside of the Cybercafé. "Looks like they're going after Conner and the others."

"You think we should go help them?" Avalon asked.

"Considering everything we've seen, I think it'd be a good idea," Tommy said. He pulled his communicator up to his mouth. "Guys, the ninja storm rangers are back. They're going to need our help."

"You got it, Tommy," Zack said. "We're on our way."

It took only a few seconds before a red, yellow, pink, and black teleportation trail appeared in the lab. Jason, Trini, Kimberly, and Zack crowded around Tommy's computer to look at the footage while Billy came out from the medical bay, holding onto Trent's white Dino Gem.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"The Ninja Storm rangers are attacking again," Tommy explained. "And considering what happened the last time, it looks like they could use our help."

"Lead the way," Trini said. "We're right behind you."

"Yeah, I need my exercise for the day," Zack agreed. He and Kimberly shared a laugh. Then Zack turned towards Billy, who stood a few steps away, looking confused. "Hey, Big Brain, we're going to need you to get ready here." Billy didn't respond, instead, he brought up a hand and rubbed his forehead. "Billy, you okay, man?"

At this, all the rangers turned towards Billy, noticing him taking a few steps back. Kimberly frowned in concern, reaching up to grasp his shoulder. "Billy, you don't look so good. Maybe you should sit this one out." She cried out in pain when Billy grabbed her arm and flipped her onto her back, pushing her away from him.

The rangers immediately fell into fighting stances. "Billy, man, what's going on?" Jason asked.

Billy didn't respond. He pressed his palm against his forehead, the other hand curling around the White Dino Gem in his hand. He squeezed his eyes shut and fell to his knees. His back spasmed, arching in and out, screams escaping his lips. Slowly, they turned into whimpers. "No," he murmured. "No. Not now. No."

"Billy," Trini said.

Billy lifted his head and looked at his friends in dismay. Avalon stared back. His blue-green eyes shifted to a lizard-like one, pupils elongating before they glowed white. Finally, there was a bright flash of light and in Billy's place, kneeling on the floor was Zeltrax.

Avalon's heart leapt to her throat, down to her stomach, then back to its original place. The truth was standing right in front of her, but a part of her brain immediately tried to convince her it wasn't true. He wasn't Zeltrax, he didn't have the White Dino Gem in his hand, he was their friend.

"No way," Zack whispered.

"I should've known there was fishy about this," Tommy said. Avalon wasn't the only one who heard the tone in his voice. Kimberly's eyes widened and she barked at Tommy, "You _knew_ about this?" Tommy shook his head. "I had my own suspicions. The day I was attacked in the lab…Billy was the only one here."

"I thought there was something strange with him, too," Jason admitted. "One time it looked like he was really getting sick, but he didn't say there was anything wrong. He just said everything was okay."

"Yes, the blue ranger does tend to have a lone wolf quality to himself," Zeltrax said, his voice almost dripping with sarcasm. "He does think a lot."

"So you're aware that you're Billy?" Kimberly asked.

"It's the classic case of feeling that there are two sides to one person," Trini explained. She nodded over towards Jason for an example. "The Jason we know is noble, heroic, and a skilled leader. Another part of him is probably as annoyed as the rest of us where when monster fights came up. Maybe wants to know what it's like to be on the bad side."

"Trust me," Tommy said. "It's nothing worth exploring."

"Your Billy's been locked away," Zeltrax growled. "With the help of this." He held up the White Dino Gem as it glowed spectacularly. "Mesogog knew there was a chance the man that had previously worked with the rangers would come in handy. And it has sooner than we anticipated it would." He lifted his sword and pointed it directly at the rangers. "You'll have to catch me to get this back!" With that, he disappeared through an invisiportal.

The rangers didn't waste a moment before leaping into the invisiportal after him. They landed on the ground in a crouch, knee pressed to the dirt, before standing up behind him. Zeltrax turned around, brandishing the White Dino Gem. "You know the power of these gems first hand, _Dr._ Oliver," Zeltrax growled. "Let's see what happens when someone that's _not_ a ranger uses it."

"We have to get that Gem away from him," Avalon said.

"Then we'll have to morph," Jason agreed. "It's morphin' time!"

"Mastodon!" Zack called.

"Pterodactyl!" Kimberly called.

"Saber-tooth Tiger!" Trini called.

"Tyrannosaurus!" Jason called.

"Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!" Tommy and Avalon called in unison.

"Bracchio!"

"Ankylo!"

"Power Rangers!" Jason, Trini, Kimberly, and Zack called.

"Dino Power!" Tommy and Avalon called.

Zeltrax pulled out his sword and ran towards the rangers. With the Dino Gem clutched tightly in his hand, he fended off the rangers, going down them in a line. He brushed off the Power Sword, Power Bow, Power Daggers, and Power Axe before making his way through the Bracchio Staff and the Ankylo Axe. The moment each of the rangers were knocked to the ground they'd get back to their feet and charge once more, not giving Zeltrax the chance to escape or use the gem.

And yet, Zeltrax never tired as he continued to slaughter them. With a particularly vicious blow, Tommy and Avalon were struck in the chests and sent flying back onto the ground. Tommy skidded so far he nearly fell over the side of the cliff face, grabbing onto it at the last minute.

"Tommy!" Kimberly shouted. "Hang on!"

"Hiya!" Jason and Zack leapt forward, tag-teaming Zeltrax with their power weapons. They twisted this way and that, with Zeltrax following their every move, trying to take him down. Zack managed to find an opening and slashed Zeltrax against the back, crashing him forward into Jason's power sword.

The energy blow sent Zeltrax flying. He hit the ground and got to his feet, chuckling to himself. "You better be careful, rangers, who knows how much Billy can feel."

Kimberly and Trini, who were about to attack him, stopped short, hesitantly lowering their weapons. Zeltrax took the time to slash them both with his sword before bringing his hand out and sent a fire blast into them, causing them to slam to the ground.

Avalon recovered from her attack and rolled over, grabbing onto Tommy's wrist. "I've got you, bro," she said, pulling him back up.

"Thanks, sis," Tommy replied. He grasped the edge of the cliffside and heaved himself up and back to safety with Avalon's help. "Let's take this guy down." He held up his staff. "Bracchio Staff!"

"Ankylo Axe!" Avalon called.

"Energy orb!" Tommy drew the shape of a circle in the air, creating a ball of energy. He then turned his staff to the side and pushed it towards Zeltrax.

"Ankylo Arsenal!" Avalon pulled back her Ankylo Axe and the blades turned into a serrated blade. She held it sideways in her hand and threw it as hard as she could. The Ankylo Axe spun through the air, shedding the pointed blades of the serrated knife edge, creating tiny arrows. The arrows raced towards Zetrax, combining with Tommy's attack.

Zeltrax held out the White Dino Gem and it absorbed the attacks.

"What?" Zack gasped.

The word barely escaped his lips before Zeltrax sent the attack back at the line of rangers in front of him, the resulting explosion so strong that when they hit the ground, Jason, Kimberly, Trini, and Zack de-morphed. Zeltrax laughed evilly, walking towards them, casually bringing his sword up over his shoulders.

Tommy and Avalon struggled to get back to their feet.

"Too late rangers," Zeltrax said, coming to a stop in front of them.

He slammed the White Dino Gem against his chest. The rangers skidded to a halt as the energy from the White Dino Gem surrounded Zeltrax in a dome of pure energy. It faded away, revealing Zeltrax standing as he stood before and Billy lying on the ground, gasping for air. His suit changing from its original black and blue armored body to a gray and red one. "Now I'm my own being! With a new lifeforce!"

Another invisiportal opened and Elsa landed on the ground, her long ponytail swishing behind her as she did so. "It's about time," she snarled. "I was getting tired of watching you whine and moan about switching back." She flicked her head towards Billy. "What do you want me to do with him?"

"Destroy him," Zeltrax said. "I'll handle the rest."

He slowly started to walk towards the rangers, who struggled to get up from the ground.

Elsa smiled gleefully. Zeltrax split apart and now she was able to kill someone? It was the best day of her life. She was going to have fun with it. Elsa spun her sword in her hand, spinning it between her fingers then poised it over her head. Billy leaned back on his heels and, blood pouring down the side of his head, glared defiantly at Elsa. Elsa pointed her sword directly at Billy and charged toward him, throwing out a blast of lighting as she did so.

Avalon didn't have to think of what to do. She leapt in front of the lightning attack, deflecting it with her Ankylo Axe, then raced back at Elsa. She swung her Ankylo Axe hard at a uppercut angle, knocking straight into the side of Elsa's sword. The angle of her hit along with the power behind it knocked Elsa off-balance.

She pitched over the side of the cliff, grabbing onto Avalon and pulled her down with her.

* * *

 **A/N:** OMG you guys, I only have one 'episode' left to write after this chapter (and the next) of _New Beginning_ and then we go into the end of the story. I can't believe after 5 years the Avalon series is almost over. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I'll update again soon.

Thanks to **zombie-hunt, SpecialK92, Ashley, and brankel1** for reviewing.

 **~Av**


	46. Chapter 46: The Storm

**Chapter 46**

 _The Storm_

* * *

Conner sighed, resting his chin in his hands. Ethan glanced at him, turning away from the laptop he rapidly typed over. Bailey glanced at him, looking at the computer screen and smiled a little, seeing the footage of the Ninja Storm team in one of their last fights. Then she looked over at Conner and said, "There's no point in being upset, mate. Chances are they've got a boost to their powers because of being mind-controlled. It's happened before."

"Yeah, but what are the chances that we'd get our butts kicked that badly?" Conner shot back.

"I get your pride is wounded and everything but these guys had taken over a hundred of these alien dudes at one time," Ethan said. He turned his computer so Conner could see the video footage of them fighting off alien after alien that came their way. He grinned and turned back to Bailey. "And you used to fight with them, too? You have to tell me everything."

"Yeah, any and all information you can get on these guys is greatly needed," Conner agreed.

Bailey rolled her eyes. "There's not much that I can tell you that you don't already know. Those who hold the ninja storm powers have the added ability to control an element. Shane controls air, Dustin controls Earth, Tori controls water, and I control metal. Or did, before we gave up our powers."

"But you're able to use them again," Ethan pointed out.

"Yes, because of the energy wave that was released from Zordon's power tube along with Dulcea' power, I'm sure," Bailey explained. She tapped her chin. "Or maybe some more stuff from the Azurite Healiodore. I don't know for sure." Conner and Ethan stared back at her. "What?"

"Man, I wish you'd tell us more about the sort of things that you guys went through," Ethan aid. He rested his chin in his hand and looked wistful. "I wish I was a ranger back then, it would've been so cool."

"Having to save the world and realize you're no longer an ankle-biter when you're _that_ young? I wouldn't wish it on anyone, mate. Don't get me wrong, I loved the experience, but I don't think anyone needs to have the responsibility when they're that young." A ringing bell caught her attention and she looked over towards the front door as Kira stalked in.

"Hey Ki…ra," Ethan greeted, slowly shrinking in his seat when she turned a glare her way. He scooted next to Bailey, ducking down behind his computer.

"What's your problem?" Conner asked her.

Kira glared back at him. "Oh, nothing other than my life being ruined."

"So…Dr. O _didn't_ want to talk to you about your fighting skills?" Conner asked, confusion written all over his face. "I don't get it, what else would they want to talk to you about?"

"I don't know, Conner, what do you _think_ he wanted to talk to me about?" She snapped back at him. "What else in the entire world could he want to talk about?" Conner opened his mouth to say something then stopped, his eyes shifting behind her. Then he looked back at her once more. "Probably that," he said under his breath.

Kira looked over her shoulder and immediately went pale as her father stormed towards her. From the way he swayed back and forth, having to use nearby tables to keep himself up, it was obvious he had started drinking a little early. Or maybe it was his unbridled fury, she couldn't smell anything on him and when he did drink it was obvious. The fumes would get to her sooner than any of his fists would get to him.

"Dad—" she started to say but was cut off by a slap to the face. Kira fell, hard. The sound of her body hitting the ground barely covered the sounds of gasps coming from those that witnessed her hit. She looked up at her father with wide eyes, then immediately moved to cover herself when Greer pulled back his foot and kicked her in the stomach.

Bailey, Conner, and Ethan got up from their seats, watching, frozen in horror.

"Do you know what the hell you've done?" Greer demanded. "Do you know who just came to the house? Who the fuck do you think you are?" He brought his fist back and started to throw it forward. In a split second, Conner was out from behind the table and grabbed Greer's first, shoving him back into the far wall of the Cybercafé. Greer struggled against Conner's grasp, glaring at the teen boy. "Get your hands off me!"

"Don't you _dare_ touch her again," Conner hissed, barely able to keep under control. His hand shook with effort, slowly squeezing around Greer's wrist. "Not while I'm around."

"And when have you been around, Conner?" Greet spat. "What happened when you ditched her and she lost all her friends?"

"I made a mistake! But I'm not going to make that mistake again! I care too much about her to let you keep hurting her like this. You want to pick on someone?" Conner dropped Greer's hand and stepped back. "Then pick on me. Someone who'll actually fight back!"

"Conner," Ethan said slowly. His eyes darted around the café. "Maybe you should—"

"No!" Conner spat. "I'm tired of seeing what he's doing to her and acting like nothing's going on!"

Bailey hurried to Kira and knelt by her side, pulling her to her feet. She wrapped her arm around her friend, soothing rubbing circles on her back. Kira looked back at her with a grateful nod. The two watched as Greer snarled at Conner and lifted his fist to punch again.

There was a sudden chaotic burst of wind that knocked Conner and Greer aside, sending a ripple of wind throughout the rest of the Cybercafé. Bailey and Kira turned to the side to shield themselves while Ethan brought his arms up in front of his face. When the wind faded, they looked over to see Shane, Tori, and Dustin walking towards them menacingly.

"Please," Shane said, holding up his hands. "Let us have the room." He sent out another burst of air that send the other patrons of the café sprinting outside as fast as they could.

Conner got back to his feet and glared at the, putting up his fists. "These guys again?" He asked.

"We don't stop until Lothor tells us to," Dustin growled.

"Now get up!" Tori snarled. "We've got some business to attend to."

"We're not going to fight you here," Conner said.

"Then we'll just have to destroy you," Shane hissed.

"We'll meet you anywhere anytime, but we have to fight alone," Bailey said, moving to the front of the group. She looked each of her friends and former teammates in the eye. "No one else. You leave the citizens of this city alone and we'll do whatever it takes to stop you and turn you back."

Dustin laughed. "Turn us back from what? This is the best I've ever felt!"

"Just wait until we finish with you," Kira growled. Shane looked at her then back at Conner, who had turned his glare from Greer to him. Shane look him up and down before nodding.

"Meet at the Hubble Bridge," is all he said before he, Tori, and Dustin turned to leave. Then he spotted Greer on the ground and smirked, lifting up his hand to attack again.

Kira sucked in a deep breath and let out a ptera-screech that made everyone around her lap their hands over their ears. Shane snarled before he ninja-streaked out of the café, his teammates following him. The Dino Rangers started to follow after them, wanting to get away from any nearby citizens or any cameras that could capture their identities as they morphed.

"Kira."

Greer's voice caused Kira to stop, pulling Bailey, who was holding her friend's hand, to a stop with her. Kira glared down at her father, who continued to lie on the ground, looking up at her in awe. "You're…" he breathed. "You're a….you're a power ranger?" Kira took a deep breath and nodded back to him. "You saved me."

Kira looked away for a moment, catching Conner's eye. He stared back at her. She looked at him then lowered her head, speaking to her shoes. "Just because you don't' care for my life doesn't mean that I don't care for yours," she said. With that, she went with her friends to the Hubble Bridge, finding it empty once they arrived.

"Alright guys we have to agree on something," Conner said. "Not to hold back. We'll do everything we can to stop them. So if they use their powers, we use our powers. If they morph, we morph, go it?"

"Got it," the others agreed, Bailey after hesitating for a moment.

She knew it was what they had to do, but it was still hard. Before meeting Kira, Ethan, Conner, and Trent, they'd helped her really figure out how to balance her life as a ranger and a teen. Didn't treat her like she was some sort of a freak because she enjoyed electronics and tech and IT and everything that came with it. It was a very welcome change from being the 'team's little sister' from the last few teams she had been on.

Now she was doing _this_ to pay them back?

The wind picked up all of a sudden. Bailey twisted her hand to the side and brought the side of her fist up. There was a groaning sound and a sheet of metal from the bridge peeled off and landed in front of her friends, blocking off the large gust of wind the Ninja Storm rangers sent their way.

The two teams fell into fighting stances before splitting off to fight again. Conner vs. Shane, Ethan vs. Dustin, and Kira and Bailey vs. Tori. This time around, the Ninja Storm rangers used their elemental attacks to aid in their fight; Shane and Dustin using their Air Walk and Earth crawl abilities to get out of the way of the attacks towards them. Conner fought back with his enhanced speed, moving as fast as Shane's ninja streaking ability would take him. Ethan's tricera-skin made it so that Dustin's punches and kicks bounced off him like he'd struck rubber.

Kira used her Ptera scream to incapacitate Tori before Bailey followed it up with her increased strength from her Cephala power, knocking Tori onto her back on the ground. Tori flipped back to her feet and sent a surge of water to the two girls, knocking them back. Bailey then followed it up with a metal attack, taking another sheet from the bridge, throwing it like a boomerang to strike Tori as it came and went.

The fight raged on, each ide evenly matched until Dustin, Shane, and Tori managed to overpower them. They moved to attack again, but Blake's cry cut him off. He, a blond boy, and a dark-haired boy leapt over a nearby fence and walked towards the Ninja Storm rangers to stand in front of them.

"No way," Kira said. She shook her head. "Blake…you can't be working with them, too."

"I don't know if you've noticed, dude, but they're the bad guys now," Conner added.

Blake shrugged. "What can I say? We stick with our own kind."

"We'll see how quickly you realize that staying in the past is never a good thing," Bailey spat back. Her eyes shifted over the other two boys. "Hunter, Cam…" she said. "You, too?"

"Lothor has shown us the error of our ways," he said.

"Whoever doesn't follow us, we'll destroy," Cam added. He turned and held out his palm, Wind discs resting in the middle. "These will help you with your powers," he said to Shane, Dustin, and Tori. "It draws from the Abyss of Evil."

"But we already have our powers," Tori pointed out.

"Not like these," Hunter said.

Shane looked at the three before nodding. He flipped out his Wind Disc and grabbed the one from Cam's hand. Dustin and Tori followed suit and they placed them into their Wind Morphers. The second they came in contact there was a bright blast of white light that knocked them back a few paces. Then Dustin, Shane, and Tori started to look around, confused.

"Yes," Bailey murmured, hurrying over. Conner, Ethan, and Kira followed her.

"Dude, what happened?" Dustin asked, once they approached. He ran his fingers over his forehead. "Oh man, I've got a headache."

"My bell is seriously run," Shane added.

Tori twisted back and forth, scanning the area of the clearing. "How did we get here?" Tori asked. "The last thing I remember—"

"—Lothor," Blake explained. He pressed his lips together grimly. "He's back."

"Yeah, we know, Sensei told us," Shane agreed.

"That wasn't Sensei," Hunter sighed. "It was Lothor."

"This is all highly amusing, but what's going on?" Conner asked.

Cam took the time to explain everything that happened with himself, Hunter, and Blake. How they had figured out what was going on with the Ninja Storm Wind Rangers and moved to the Abyss of Evil to get them help. How they'd almost fallen into the Abyss completely until Sensei had arrived to save them.

"So we had to pretend to be on their side to get them to take these disks," Hunter explained.

"Then it's a good thing you showed up when you did, yeah?" Bailey asked.

"Good for you, maybe," Dustin teased. Shane and Tori rolled their eyes and Bailey reached up, smacking him on the back of the head. She giggled at how easy it was to get back to their usual interactions with each other. "Ow! Okay, right, yeah. We need to get back to business."

"Let's get to the lab," Conner said.

"Right," the others agreed.

* * *

"Av!" Tommy shouted, turning to face where his sister had just been.

Zeltrax moved quickly.

Tommy, Jason, Kimberly, Trini, and Zack all cried out as they were struck by another wave of Zeltrax's energy that came from the blade of his sword, falling to the ground. The second they hit the ground, he was back on them with another strike that sent them flying apart.

Tommy flipped back to his feet and sent another energy orb into Zeltrax. The moment he was hurt, he could hear a loud cry from Billy, who continued to kneel on the ground. "Huh?" Tommy looked over at Billy and watched as a gash appeared on his shoulder, blood dripping to the ground.

"Billy," Trini called weakly.

"What happened?" Kimberly asked.

Zeltrax laughed loudly. "You fools," he cried. "Your friend and I have been sharing the same mind link since my existence. Whatever pain you bring to me is the same amount of pain you'll bring to him."

Tommy cursed loudly, tightening his grasp on his Bracchio staff.

Jason stood beside him, unsure of what to do. He turned his Power Sword in his hand and looked to Tommy. "We have to fall back," he said.

Tommy nodded back. "Yeah," he agreed. He started to take a step back but Billy's voice stopped him.

"No," he groaned. "Keep going."

"But Billy, I know you're smart enough to understand what this guy is saying," Zack said from where he knelt between Kimberly and Trini, a hand on each of their shoulders. "If we destroy him—"

"It's a risk, I know," Billy said. He reached up and grasped his shoulder, blood seeping through his fingers, dripping to the ground. "Everything we do with this is a risk. I can't have Zeltrax keep winning like this. We've managed to split apart for a reason…Dulcea showed me my trial and it was to take donw Zeltrax. He's held too much space in my mind, has used everything I knew about you against you and I don't doubt he'll continue to do that. You _have_ to do it."

"Billy, no!" Kimberly cried. She, Trini, ad Zack got to their feet. She clutched her power bow tightly in her shaking hand. "We can think of something else. _Anything_ else."

"No." Billy shook his head and closed his eyes. "You have to do it. I'm not going to let you argue." He got to his feet and removed his hand from his shoulder. It continued to bleed but not as much as it'd done before. He pulled out his morpher. "Triceratops!" He morphed and stood up straight, the pain already removed from his shoulder. "Power Lance!" His weapon appeared in his hand and he pointed it towards Zeltrax. "I'll help you."

"Alright, if this is what you want," Tommy agreed.

Billy nodded and sank down into a fighting stance.

Zeltrax sucked in a deep breath and pointed the tip of his sword directly towards the ranger as they stood in front of him. "Say yours prayers, rangers. You'll have time, I want to make you suffer as long as I can."

"What about Av?" Trini asked.

"She can handle Elsa," Tommy said.

"Zeltrax has the added power of the White Dino Gem in his possession because of me," Billy said. He took in a deep breath and tightened his gloved grasp along the hilt of his Power Lance. "we need to take him down."

With that, Zeltrax lifted his sword and raced towards the rangers.

The rangers stood together before running towards him as well.

Down in the gorge below, Avalon landed hard on the ground, her head smacking against the rocks. A ringing pinged through her ears and she rolled onto her back, sucking in lung fulls of air. She could hear Elsa land beside her, groaning from her hit as well. Avalon lifted her feet and rolled back onto her shoulders before doing a kip-up to her feet.

Elsa snarled and whipped back to her feet as well. She lifted her chin and taunted, "Look at you. Trying to protect someone who tried to destroy you."

"At least I know he has a good heart," Avalon shot back. "And it'll take a lot more to tear him down. Can't say the same about you."

Elsa's lips curled back into a snarl. "Aww, you really care for him. Too bad your friends are going to destroy him. Zeltrax has his body and mind now, and there's nothing that can be done to separate them."

"Then I'll just have to avenge him by destroying _you_ ," Avalon snarled back. "You've done enough to my friends and family and if I have to do this to protect the ones I love then so be it." With that, she launched brought her hands up towards her face. "Super Dino Mode!" She called, allowing the spikes on her suit to elongate and her body to become fuller filled with power.

With a loud, fury filled cry, she leapt towards Elsa, grabbing onto her shoulders and knocked the evil woman to the ground, falling on top of her. Elsa lifted her foot and kicked Avalon the stomach, lifting her up and over, so that she slammed against the ground.

The rangers fought hard against Elsa and Zeltrax, throwing everything they could against each other. To keep his friends from hesitating while fighting Zeltrax, Billy was the first one to strike the monster that had occupied his body and mind as long as he'd preferred. He swung his Power Lance and Zeltrax brought up his sword to block him. Billy quickly shot his Power Lance the other way and knocked the White Dino Gem from his hand and into the air.

Kimberly leapt up and grabbed it before it could fall to the ground and shatter.

"That Gem has no meaning for me now that I've siphoned its power," Zeltrax growled. He started to glow. "Say goodbye, rangers!" He raced forward and started to viciously swing back and forth with his sword, taking down the rangers as they got in his way.

Down in the gorge, Avalon continued to fight as hard against Elsa as she could. They continued to overpower each other as the seconds passed, fighting back against each other as hard as they could. Avalon grabbed Elsa's arm and threw her hard, before sending an energy blast from her Ankylo Axe into her, careening Elsa into a rock wall so hard she made a print.

Elsa growled and fell to the ground on her hands and knees. She brought her hand up to her eye and sent a blast of energy out towards Avalon, who caught it in the chest and fell back to the ground.

"Let's bring it together, guys" Jason called.

"Power Lance!" Zack called.

"Power Bow!" Kimberly called.

"Power Daggers!" Trini called.

"Power Lance!" Billy called.

"Power Sword!" Jason called.

They stood behind their power weapon and aimed it towards Zelxtrax. Tommy moved beside them, holding up his Bracchio Staff. "Bracchio Staff, Energy Orb!"

"Fire!" Jason, Kimberly, Zack, Trini, and Billy cried.

"Fire!" Tommy added.

The attacks combined and became a larger blast of energy that smacked into Zeltrax, sending him into the trees behind him, back, back, back until he finally hit the ground. Zeltrax fell to the ground and growled, getting back to his feet. "We're not done yet, rangers," he said before disappearing through an Invisiportal.

Once Zeltrax was gone, Billy immediately turned and leapt off the cliff-face and down to the gorge below. His boots skidded against the rock before he landed on the ground in a crouch and raced towards Elsa and Avalon as they knocked each other backwards from a vicious attack.

"Hiya!" Billy leapt up and kicked Elsa in the chest, knocking her back. Then he turned and grabbed onto Avalon's arm, helping her to her feet. "Are you okay?"

"Now that I've got your help, mate, I'm ecstatic," Avalon replied honestly.

"Let's take her down," Billy agreed.

"You got it," Avalon said.

The two stood next to each other. "Power down!" The two cried in unison, de-morphing.

"Aww, you're giving up already?' Elsa taunted.

"Just getting started," Avalon replied. "Ninja ranger power!"

"Ninja ranger power!" Billy echoed.

The two moved their hands in the motions that was needed to morph and morphed into their blue and orange ninja suits. "The Wolf!" "The Tiger!" Pressing their heels together, Billy and Avalon leapt high into the air and towards Elsa. She watched them arch through the air and land behind her.

Avalon used her connection to her tiger spirit—which roared loudly inside her—and used her enhanced speed to punch the ground. The ground trembled in a seismic wave, making Elsa lose her balance. Billy sprinted forward and kicked Elsa in the chest, making her fall over completely. She lifted her whip as she fell, striking towards Billy. Using his enhanced senses from his wolf spirit, Billy dodged each blow of the whip, save for a smack on the arm.

He cried out and jerked backwards, watching blood drip down the hole in the sleeve of his ninjetti robes.

"You okay?" Avalon called to him.

Billy nodded. "It'll take more than that to take us down."

"Too right," she agreed. The two fell into fighting stances again.

Elsa snarled, taking a step back. "You brats will pay for that!" She held up her hand and multiple Invisiportals opened, allowing other monsters and foot soldiers to fall in behind her. Avalon and Billy backed up until they were standing with their friends.

"Well, looks like we've got our wish," Kimberly said, falling in with them. "We wanted to get back to help in some way and now here we are."

"Don't worry," Jason said. "With all of us together, we can take them."

"You got that right!" Conner's voice called. The rangers looked over to see Conner, Kira, Ethan, Trent, Bailey, Shane, Dustin, Tori, Blake, Hunter, and Cam all running their way to fall into the lineup with them. "We're not going down without a fight!"

"You think you're ready for this?" Zack asked.

"Try and stop us," Shane agreed.

Billy nodded. He stepped over to Trent and held out the White Dino Gem to him. "I think you're going to need this," he said, blue-green eyes filled with sincere sorrow for what he'd done. Trent nodded and took the Gem from him, it glowing in his hand.

"Let's be careful," Tommy said, looking at everyone as they stood in line with each other.

"But let's get it done," Avalon agreed.

"Are you guys ready?" Conner asked, starting off the call.

"Ready!" Came the unanimous response.

"Dino Thunder, Power Up!" Conner, Kira, Ethan, Tommy, Bailey, and Avalon cried.

"White Ranger, Dino Power!" Trent cried.

"Nina Storm, Ranger Form!" Shane, Dustin, and Tori cried.

"Thunder Storm, Ranger Form!" Hunter and Blake cried.

"Samurai Storm, Ranger Form!" Cam cried.

"Ha!" They all shouted in unison, activating their morphers.

"Tyranno!"

"Tricera!"

"Ptera!"

"Bracchio!"

"Drago!"

"Cephala!"

"Ankylo!"

"Dino Thunder!"

"Power of Air!"

"Power of Water!"

"Power of Earth!"

"Crimson Thunder!"

"Navy Thunder!"

"Samurai Power!"

"Ninja Storm!"

"Mastodon!"

"Pterodactyl!"

"Triceratops!"

"Saber-Tooth Tiger!"

"Tyrannosaurus!"

"Power Rangers!"

The rangers all posed together. "Ranger power!" A burst of energy exploded behind them, sending a shockwave through the canyon.

Elsa pulled out her sword and charged forward, signaling the start of the attack with the foot soldiers and monsters following behind her. Conner, Kira, Trent, Ethan, Tommy, Tori, Dustin, and Shane all climbed atop of their ranger cycles and with their wheels spitting out dirt, raced towards the monsters.

Avalon, Bailey, Hunter, Blake, and Came summoned their swords and ran into the attack with the Mighty Morphin' rangers falling in after them. Energy attacks and swords slashed back and forth as the rangers fought hard against the monsters and foot soldiers. Everywhere one turned was another ranger taking on a monster.

"Super Dino Mode!" Conner cried, powering up his suit. With the enhancements he flew through a series of Tyrannodrones with his enhanced power. Shane pressed his back against Conner's and the two fought against each other as the foot soldiers and monsters came their way.

A larger one came Conner's way and he turned towards it. "Triassic time!" Conner called. He pointed at the monster. "You're going to regret this."

"Battleizer!" Shane cried.

The two morphed into the higher power of their ranger suits and attacked.

"Fire kick!"

"Aerial mode!"

"Fire!"

With the excess blast of fire from the two red rangers combined with all of the other rangers attacking, the monsters and foot soldiers were defeated with ease, leaving Elsa the last one behind. Avalon turned to fight her and Elsa scowled towards her.

"I won't forget this," she hissed. Then her lips pulled back into a smile. "Just wait for what Mesogog has in store for you. It's coming soon." With that, she turned and leapt through an Invisiportal, leaving the ranger behind.

* * *

"Thank you," Sensei said to the group once all of the rangers were back at the dino lab. He held a warm smile on his face as he looked over at all of the ranger that stood before him. "We owe you a debt we can never repay."

"It looks like you've all got your powers back," Hayley said, looking over them all. "It should certainly come in handy while we try to figure out what it is that Mesogog is up to."

"It must be like how the rest of us got ours," Bailey explained, looking to Tommy for confirmation. "With the use of the leftover energy we were bathed in from Phaedo, they were able to morph. Just like some of the other ranger teams we've come across so far."

"So, that must mean that something big is really going to happen then," Zack said, almost with resignation. "All of these monsters being back…"

"A ranger's job is never done," Tommy agreed. He stood at the back of his crammed full living room with his folded arms. "It's something that we're all going to have to get used to, even if we have to get through the rest of our lives on edge. It's something we all agreed to do when we took on the power."

"Oh boy," Kimberly said with a roll of her eyes. "If he's starting to talk like this, you know some sort of a lecture is coming."

"Yeah, I'd head out of here before you get stuck," Trini agreed with a smile.

Shane stood up and motioned towards the Dino Thunder Rangers. "What about you guys and Mesogog?" Won't you need our help?"

"If we need your help, we'll definitely call for it," Conner said.

"And by my guess, it's going to be sooner rather than later," Ethan agreed. He shook his head. "Elsa was on the warpath today, I don't think she's going to let anyone live this down."

Sensei reached out and clasped Tommy's and Jason's hands, shaking them firmly. "Thank you again. We are forever in your debt." With that, the Ninja Storm rangers left Tommy's house in a series of ninja streaks, making Ethan clasp his hands together.

"Oh man, that was so cool!" He practically squealed. "I wish I could do that."

"You know, I can do that, too," Conner pointed out, resting his hand on Ethan's shoulder.

Ethan snorted and looked up at him. "Yeah, and you've got the lizard breath to go along with it." He laughed when Conner's smile faded and he clapped him on the arm. "Hey, it's getting late, we should get going."

"Yeah," Kira agreed. "Let's go!" She turned on her heel and started to leave the room. Ethan and Conner exchanged a glance and Conner looked towards the ground before turning towards Kira's retreating back and asked, "Where are you going to go?" Kira stopped on a dime, all other conversation in the room stopping as the older rangers tuned in to the conversation.

Tommy and Avalon exchanged glances but didn't say anything.

Kira slowly turned to face Conner, looking at him as if he were crazy. "Look, I know you don't use your brain that much, but it's not so hard. I'm going home."

"No, you're not," Conner said firmly.

Kira's eyebrows rose. "Excuse me?"

"You're going to come to my place or Ethan's, or even stay here with Dr. O, Av, and Bay, I'm sure they won't mind." Conner looked over to the siblings for their approval before adding firmly, "But you're not going to back home."

Kira's eyes narrowed into a glare. "Excuse me, Conner, but you can't tell me what to do." She turned on her heel once more and once more Conner's words stopped her.

"Yeah, you just let your dad do that, right?" He asked.

Kira sucked in a sharp breath. "You don't know what you're talking about," she said under her breath.

"So I was completely blind when your dad beat you up today?"

Kimberly let out a sharp gasp, bringing her hands up to cover her mouth, eyes growing wide. She looked at Tommy, who nodded silently, proving it was true, which made her gasp even louder. Kira noticed and she turned to the pink ranger, studying her face. Then she looked at the rest of the older rangers, studied each of their faces and turned to Conner with nothing but fury blazing in her eyes.

"You told them?!" She spat.

"He didn't have to tell me," Ethan said, defending his friend. "I figured it out."

Conner shook his head. "I didn't tell them anything, Kira. I wouldn't do that, because you asked me to. But I also can't keep seeing you get hurt day after day because of a man whose job is protect you. One that, honestly, he really sucks at!"

"Kira, if you're in some kind of trouble, we can help you," Jason said.

Kira glared at him. "I don't _need_ any help. What I need is for everyone to leave me alone!"

"So you can keep getting hurt?" Conner spat. "Forget it."

"SHUT UP, CONNER!" Kira shouted. "You don't know what you're talking about. You never do." She stepped in front of him and poked him in the chest. "You might be the leader of our team but it doesn't give you a right to pry into my life. It doesn't give you the right to make assumptions and it _doesn't_ mean you know me!"

Conner grabbed her arm and turned her around when she tried to leave, holding her wrists to his chest. Kira struggled to pull away from his grasp but he held her tightly. "Do you think I want you to go walking out that door be the reason that he kills you? He's going to kill you, Kira! And you know it! He's done this for _years_ and no one's ever said anything and I'm sorry!" His apology made her stop. "I'm sorry I knew what he was doing this entire time ad I didn't do anything to stop it. I'm sorry that he hurts you and that you feel you deserve it and have to suffer. I'm sorry that I let you keep going back there. But I'm mostly sorry that I let someone that I really care about continue to feel that no one cares."

"Kira," Avalon now tried. "Take it from me, things like this do not stop. It's going to keep going unless you make him stop or he kills you first. Sometimes the way you fight back is by calling the police and letting them handle it."

Kira lowered her head, tears now starting to fall down her cheeks. She sniffed loudly. "It won't help," she murmured. "It's happened before. People have called before and…he's just gotten away with it."

"You've got witnesses this time, Kir," Bailey said. "That bloke wouldn't have done what he did in the café if he didn't think he'd get away with it. But we all saw it, yeah?"

"Yeah, and we'll talk to the police," Ethan said. "Tell them everything we know."

Kira continued to shake her head.

"Conner's suggestion of him killing you," Billy said slowly, yet firmly. "The statistics of it happening grows greater the longer you're with him. If you and your mom—"

"My mom doesn't care!" Kira burst out, her shrieks almost matching the sound of her ptera scream. "She's seen this happening for _years_ and she's done nothing to stop it! I used to ask her for help, to beg her to leave him but she'd never budge. He was my father and I had to deal with the way he disciplined me. That's what she said. She doesn't care."

" _We_ care," Trini insisted. "We're your team, your _family_ and we'll do everything we can to help."

"Yeah, you've just got to trust us," Zack said.

"And these are some of the best people you can trust," Bailey said quietly. She looked at her sister. "Right, Av?" Avalon nodded back in response. "See? And if Av agrees you know it's true. She used to hate these guys."

A low, tense laughter went through the room.

Conner put his face close to Kira's forcing her to look him in the eye. "We'll help you as long as you ask for it, Kira," he murmured. "You just have to ask for the help." Kira started to sob, bringing her hands up to cover her eyes. She sank down from Conner's grasp to the floor, landing hard on her knees. Conner followed her down and wrapped his arms around her. She leaned into his chest, shaking violently with her sobs. "We're going to help you Kira," Conner murmured, tightening his grip around her. "I promise."

Kira nodded, her sobs keeping her from being able to respond.

Instead, she continued to clutch Conner as she cried.

* * *

Mesogog looked over as Elsa walked into his lair with Zeltrax behind her. "You've done well," he said to them. There's not much left until the rangers see they won't prevail." He tightened his hands into fists. "Angel Grove and Stone Canyon are being attacked as we speak. Soon all of Reefside will be ours!"

Elsa and Zeltrax lowered to their knees in a show of solidarity with Mesogog.

Outside the lab, and over Reefside, the ominous storm clouds rolled in.

* * *

 **A/N:** I know the fight scene may have seemed lack luster but…it can be hard to work through a LOT of characters in a short amount of time. As the story ends people will get their own fight scenes and things being spaced out will work out a bit better. But, please be nice, let me know what you think.

Thanks to **Adela, Guet, and brankel1** for reviewing.

 **~Av**


	47. Chapter 47: Pushing Forward

**Chapter 47**

 _Pushing Forward_

* * *

Conner, Kira, Ethan, Bailey, and Trent had been sitting in their Science class when the alarm went off once more. It started with a low rumbling then a far-off explosion. Their classmates jumped and exchanged worried glances while the rangers let out low moans.

Not again.

It'd been happening for days now. Weeks. The moment Zeltrax split from Billy and became stronger…the worse things got for Reefside. There were monster attacks every day, so much so that the rangers were all starting to fall apart from exhaustion. Not just there but in Angel Grove and Stone Canyon and…nearly every place there'd ever been a ranger presence in the past years. So much so that the past ranger teams were all starting to become exhausted. Day after day they fought against these monsters; Tyrannodrones and whatever else Mesogog and Elsa came up with. And every day it became harder and harder to keep the secret.

Tommy could barely stand in front of the class for more than ten minutes at a time before it became obvious he was barely holding on. Now he did most of his teaching from a small office chair that he used to roll around the classroom. To Conner, that was the worst part. Now he couldn't sleep, pretend to pay attention, or doodle in class now that Tommy was mobile. But considering the almost stern expression that continued to plague Tommy's normally friendly features, it looked like no matter what Conner did, it wouldn't make a difference.

Bailey sighed as she heard the warning blare and moved to sit under the desk as she and the rest of her students had been trained to do. The monster attacks had become so frequent that they didn't get evacuated anymore. Instead, they were instructed to hold up in their classes and wait for the danger to pass. But because none of them could get the chance to leave, they had to rely on the other rangers to fight for them. So much so that whenever an alarm went off, Tommy went into the corner to talk on his cell phone in low mumbles until it passed.

Then he'd relay the information to the others and it was never that good. Avalon was doing a great job in his absence of leading the team but they were all starting to become worn down and tired. It wasn't much longer until Mesogog would realize it and finally take them down. But there was only so much they could do when they were in school without revealing their secret.

Bailey cradled her phone in her lap, navigating through to the internet to read some webpages. She'd get a earful from Tommy about the phone bill later but they needed to know what was going on. It didn't take long for Cassidy to smugly announce, getting the news first, that there was monster attack going on downtown.

"Why do they always attack downtown?" Conner asked, ducked under his own table, soccer ball on his lap. "Can't they fight somewhere else? Like, I don't know, destroy the school so that we can get a few days off?"

"Are you crazy?" Ethan asked, eyebrows rising.

"I'm not saying I want anyone to get hurt, but some structural damage, you know? Just so we can have some time off and actually do something about this."

Kira looked over at him. "What can we do? If those guys can't stop them, what makes you think we can?"

"We wouldn't have been chosen to become rangers if we weren't able to help in some way," Trent reminded her. He spun his pencil around his fingers before going to draw in his sketchbook. Then he reached up and subconsciously ran his fingers over a few sores that had erupted on his face. The stress of fighting so much so often, knowing Mesogog was his father, was creating so much stress that his lupus flare-ups had gotten worse as the days went on. "Why else would we be here?"

Kira gestured around the room, eyebrows rising indignantly. "We'd be in school," she said. "We'd be in Reefside. Are you telling me you think we were all living here for the exact reason to be made Power Rangers?"

"It's possible," Bailey said with a shrug. "Everything about being a ranger all reports back to being part of the Great Power. Zordon used to tell us about this war he'd fought in, before he was placed into his Power Tube. Since then, the Great Power always determines who is the one that holds the best attributes of being a ranger. As far as we know, we could've been destined for this since birth, yeah?"

"Happy Birthday to us," Kira murmured. She and the rest of the class groaned when they heard over the loudspeaker, _"Students, remain calm. We are to remain in lockdown until the danger has passed. Pease report any injuries or extreme distress to the Principal. Again, remain calm."_ They were going to be there for a while.

"Oh come on, Kira, you're acting like you don't enjoy the powers you have now," Ethan said, nudging her on the arm.

"You're forgetting, she never wanted the powers at the beginning," Conner said.

"What? Really?" Trent asked.

Kira frowned and jostled Conner on the arm. "No, I didn't. I just…I didn't really get what was going on and…and I just wanted to figure some things out." She noticed Conner's smug look and shot him the finger, making him laugh.

Bailey smiled as she watched the two. Clearly, they didn't think anyone noticed the looks they gave each other. But it was as obvious as the day was long and sunny. Not to mention, with Kira staying at Conner's place for a little bit after Kira admitted what her father was doing, some things had to change. As it was, Kira had visibly brightened since Greer was arrested and held on bail, her mother being taken by the police as well, charged for failing to protect her daughter from an abuser. At the moment, she was staying with Kimberly and Trini in their apartment in Reefside, where they'd moved once they came to help the rangers fight.

Who knew what else was going on with them?

 _And what's going on with me._ Bailey sighed and looked at her phone, wondering why Fred hadn't texted her back yet.

 **Bailey:** Just wondering if you're okay. We've got a lockdown at school.

Then again, she didn't really expect him to say anything. Since she told him she loved him, they hadn't talked like they used to. He took hours to respond to her messages and even then it'd be one word answers or change of subject. It was…awkward. Now she understood how Avalon felt when Billy came back into her life, or how Tommy felt when Kimberly came back to Angel Grove to surprise him after their breakup.

So, _so_ awkward.

"Okay, I admit, at first I wasn't so into it," Kira agreed, tapping her fingers against her knees. "But everything's different now. I've changed. Being a ranger has changed all of us." She patted Conner on the shoulder and added teasingly, "I mean, look at you. There's no way you're the same dumb jock you were when you started."

Conner's eyebrows furrowed together, as if unsure of how to respond to it. "Is that supposed to be a complement?" Bailey and Trent exchanged glances and laughed. Maybe Conner hadn't changed _too_ much.

"If he doesn't get it, then I do," Ethan said. "You _have_ come a long way, bro."

Conner smiled to himself, nodding. He _had_ changed. When Bailey first met him she thought he was nothing but a cute, dumb job herself. And while she still thought he was cute—the reminder of how he turned her down still made her cringe—he wasn't a dumb jock. He was a good leader and did everything he could to make sure the team was safe and looked after. He took the role seriously and had even turned around on his stance with girls.

 _Though a certain yellow ranger may have had something to do with that,_ Bailey thought with a smirk. She looked at her phone as it buzzed. Her heart leapt to her throat then sank in disappointment.

 **Fred:** We're okay.

 _That's it?_

"And what about you, computer dude?" Conner said to the blue ranger. "You're not exactly Mr. Cyber-Geek anymore."

Ethan slowly smiled to himself. He'd come a long way as well. Not only did he know how to fight and stand up for himself, but he knew how to be the friend that could be a proponent of peace before having to resort of violence. The sort of person that could look at all of the ranger gadgets with wide-eyed bushy-tailed enthusiasm and an equally serious demeanor. Bailey probably bonded the most with Ethan as their backgrounds and interests in academics were similar. If she'd taken the chance to graduate early then she never would've had him as a friend.

"Yeah, I am pretty cool aren't I?" Ethan asked, grinning to himself.

"Don't get carried away." Conner shot down his enthusiasm with a roll of his eyes. Then he bobbed his head back and forth, smiling. "But, it's not exactly embarrassing to hang out with you anymore either."

Kira slapped a hand to her forehead and shook her head. Then she rested her hands behind her and leaned back, saying, "Okay, now who needs to learn how to take a complement?"

Conner smiled as Bailey and Trent laughed. Ethan held up his hand and defended his friend, "It's okay, I speak Conner."

"Then you'll have to get the rest of us a dictionary," Bailey teased. "Because the bloke can be _so_ confusing sometimes."

"Oh, like you're not?" Conner shot back. "You came to this school acting like you were a normal kid like us but you never told us that you had a ranger past yourself."

Bailey shrugged modestly. "What's to tell? I helped out with the tech stuff for a while, then I was a ranger, then I wasn't, then I was again. Not so weird, yeah?" But even she couldn't ignore the smile coming to her face. How silly of her to think she'd been able to stay away from being a ranger for so long. It was a part of her, in her blood. And even if that blood spilled she was a ranger at heart. Nothing would ever change that. "Mate, we had to be sure we trusted you first."

Trent snorted, tossing his head in Tommy's direction. He sat behind his desk, forehead resting on his hand as he spoke on the phone. "From what you guys told me, he didn't really keep it a secret that he knew about ranger stuff when you were just starting out."

"I reckon it's hard to keep a secret when you know something's going on," Bailey said. She lifted her chin and ran a hand through her hair. "Not to mention he has a bad habit of needing to save everyone." _And he did his best work, saving us._

 **Bailey:** We're stuck in lockdown. :( Would rather be anywhere but here.

She turned her attention back to her friends when Ethan said, "It _still_ trips me out knowing our teacher is a power ranger legend."

"Yeah, he's awesome," Bailey said. "From the white ranger to the black ranger he's done _nothing_ but take every responsibility that's come his way. No matter what it's done to his personal life. And Av's gone on and done it too, she's really turned her life around since meeting these guys." She shook her head. "She'll kill me for telling you this, since she didn't tell you first, but she used to get into a lot of trouble. Used to hang out with some really bad people. But our mates, Tommy and the lot, the really helped us out. "We owe them a lot."

"Yeah," Conner agreed. "We do."

"I owe you guys a lot, too," Trent said. He rapidly, nervously tapped his pencil against the top of his sketch book. "I couldn've done a lot of terrible stuff as the White Ranger and keeping my dad's secret but…you really helped make sure you kept me straight."

"Hey, you're part of the team, we work together," Conner said. He sighed and leaned back as well, using his free hand to run through his hair. He looked over his shoulder and out the window at the darkening skies. It seemed to be raining non-stop since Mesogog led everyone to start attacking. "Now if only we could find a way to get out of here."

 **Fred:** Sucks.

Bailey sighed heavily, resting her phone against her lap. She turned her head away from her friends' confused glances. She needed time to think. But all the same, there was nothing like the present. "What would you guys do…if there was someone you really liked who suddenly started to act weird around you?"

"Weird how?" Conner asked.

Kira held up her hand. "Don't ask him. He's not the best one to talk to when it comes to matters of the heart."

"Neither are you," Conner shot back.

Kira snorted. "Who's the one that went through half of the cheerleading team before they even got to sophomore year."

"You got with half of the cheerleading team?" Ethan asked. Even he couldn't keep the glee from his voice, eyes widening in surprise. "I thought that was just a rumor? So, is it true that you—" He cut himself off when all of his friends glared at him. "But, I mean, that can be a topic saved for another day."

Bailey laughed. She used both hands to push her hair back from her face and looked over at Conner and Kira. They seemed to be in their own world, bickering about who was the better one to help Bailey's plight. But it seemed that Bailey was the only one who noticed the hands they put on the floor to brace themselves were lightly resting on each other and neither of them made a move to pull away.

* * *

"Mastodon!"

"Pterodactyl!"

"Triceratops!"

"Saber-Tooth Tiger!"

"Tyrannosaurus!"

"Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha! Ankylo!"

Zack, Kimberly, Billy, Trini, Jason, and Avalon all leapt into battle against Nightmare…and it didn't go well. Even after being able to take down the Tyrannodrones, whatever Mesogog had done when creating the monster made it difficult for the rangers to get a good hit on him. Nightmare, being a horse was able to gallop out of their way faster than they thought was possible. Even with a combined attacked from their power weapons, he blocked it off with a darkness attack back at them.

The rangers cried out as they were all struck in the front and sprawled back against the ground. Avalon flipped back to her feet and held out her hand. "Ankylo Axe!" She leapt into the air and brought her arm across her chest. Shrew it as hard as she could, the axe flipped through the air and crashed into Nightmare's side, embedding into its skin. Nightmare reared around and whacked its head into her stomach, knocking her back to the ground.

"Power Bow!" Kimberly knelt down and launched three arrows into its side, which blew up seconds later.

Nightmare let out a terrifying whiney and fell to the ground, his hands frantically scratching at the ground. Billy, Zack, Trini, and Jason all leapt in with their weapons to attack the same wounded spot. There was a black of dark light and a wave of energy shot the rangers back across the ground. Nightmare's legs continued to rapidly scuttle across the ground, getting itself up and flopping back against the ground at the same time. Possessed.

An Invisiportal opened and he was sucked through.

Silence. The sounds of the birds that had gone away since Nightmare started to attack, came back, tweeting and chirping as they flew by. Jason walked over to where Nightmare had just been and studied the ground. No blood, nothing that would've proven Nightmare was there other than the crater in the asphalt from where he fell and broken cars and buildings nearby.

Jason gritted his teeth and let out a loud curse before punching the ground. "Dammit!" He stood up and grabbed his helmet before standing up straight. "Power down!" His reversion to his civilian form made the others do the same. He placed his hands on his hips and turned back to them, shaking his head. "Gone again."

"It doesn't matter that he got away, man," Zack said. "What matters is that we had all of our powers combined and we couldn't stop him." Jason scowled. "I'm sorry it's hard to hear, man. But it just happened. We couldn't beat him."

"Mesogog must've done something to increase his power," Avalon said, shaking her head. She rubbed her chest where a large bruise, that spread up to her collarbone was rapidly healing itself. "Last time we went against this guy, he barely managed to get away. But we used our power weapons against him, fucking ripping open his side and it barely fazed him."

"We have to have faith we can do this," Trini reminded them. "Or else we won't succeed."

"But we're all so exhausted," Kimberly pointed out. "We've been facing Nightmare and all of these other Tyrannodrones and monsters for _weeks_. We can't even go back and help the others because we're so tired."

"We'll have to keep going," Billy said. He grasped his shoulder and winced. "We've faced worse than this before and we came out on the other side. What we need to do is try a different strategy, the one we're working on now clearly isn't working."

"Well, what's the big time brain got for us?" Zack asked.

Billy smirked at the mention of his old nickname. "Regroup and try again. There's no sense in running ourselves ragged when Mesogog hasn't come out to show what his endgame is. If we continue to do the same things, we're going to get the same result. We need to try something different. It may take all of our to do this and…that's not working."

"He's right," Jason agreed. He let out a long breath and licked his lips. It was obvious it pained him how they had to stop and go back. He'd faced situations like that before and as much as it pained him, he'd make the same choice every time. Kimberly reached out and soothingly rubbed his arm, to which he gave a grateful smile to. "Let's go."

The group teleported back to the dino lab where Hayley was waiting for them. "There's nothing else that's going on out there," she reported. "Nightmare was the only one Mesogog has sent out so far." She waved her cell phone. "I've just gotten off the phone with Tommy and he said the school was in lockdown for a while and will continue to be in lockdown until they figure out what else to do."

"I'll text Bay then," Avalon said. "To let them know what's going on. Chances are they're not going to get any answers until the end of the day." She pulled out her phone then started to turn away, blinking when she spotted Billy continuing to grasp his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Billy's eyes shifted when all eyes turned his way. He stood up straight and shrugged. "Nothing," he said.

"It's not 'nothing'." Trini pushed his hand away and gasped, seeing the blood stain on his shirt that continued to grow in seconds. "Billy, you're hurt!"

"It's nothing," he defended himself. "The wound I've gotten from Zeltrax…it just re-opened, that's it."

"That looks pretty bad," Hayley said. She walked over to the First-Aid Kit that was always on hand and motioned for him to sit in a chair. "But, on the bright side, if the whole Zeltrax thing is true, then you must be hurting him more than he could say."

"Yeah, let's just hope he doesn't come back to finish the job," Zack joked. He whistled when Billy slowly pulled off his shirt and revealed the wound. It had opened further than it was before, any healing that had been done now had to start from the beginning. "That does look pretty bad, Billy."

"I think you should sit out of some of the upcoming fights than anything else," Jason said quietly. "The more you fight, the worse it's going to be and the last thing we need is for your arm to become paralyzed."

"Don't you think that's a little drastic?" Kimberly asked him.

Jason shook his head grimly. "No, I don't. I think it's a very real possibility. Guys, this isn't like the monsters we've fought before. This is worse. Whatever it is that Mesogog is doing, it's worse and harder than anything else that we've come up against before. He's re-created all our past enemies and is still throwing more out there. This…I hate to say it…this is probably the fight we'll have that not all of us will come back from." He noticed the stricken looks on his friend's faces and shrugged. "I'm being realistic. There's more firepower than we've seen and as much work as we do, the only way it'll work is if we either get the rest of the ranger teams to help fight us or we continue to work as hard to handle it ourselves. Rock and Adam and Aisha…all of them in Angel Grove and Stone Canyon are fighting their hardest right now and are losing. They were right in making sure we were split up so that we can't work on all of them and it's working."

Kimberly rubbed his shoulder and said, "Jason, I get you're really trying to make us understand what's going on, but you need to calm down before you freak out completely, okay?" She pressed her hands to the side of her head and took a deep breath. "Guys, like Jason said, this is one of the biggest things we'll have to face but we're acting like we're actually going to lose. We've won all the time before and we're going to win now you just have to be positive. We can do this." Then she turned and pressed her hand to Billy's shoulder and added, "But we can only do it when we're all healed and ready to go. We need a break."

"To go…shopping?" Avalon guessed.

Kimberly smirked. "Well, I wasn't going to say _that_ , I was going to say we should go to the spa but since you mentioned it…"

Billy laughed, breaking the tension in the room. "You never change, Kim. Please don't ever change."

Avalon laughed and waved a hand. She held her hand out to Hayley and took the First-Aid Kit. "There's very little chance of that, mate. I think her head would explode if she ever had her card declined."

"You should've seen what happened when she got her first credit card," Trini teased. She put her arm around Kimberly's shoulders and hugged her to her side. "Kim here spent it on everything she could think of and when the bill came she had to work hard to send stuff back and sell some other things to make sure her mom didn't find out."

Avalon laughed. "That's not surprising." She leaned close to Billy's shoulder, eyes narrowing. "It doesn't look like you're going to need any stitches, mate. Can you rotate your shoulder?" He did as he was told and she nodded. "And there's no muscle damage. You dodged a bullet on this one."

"Feels like I've been hit by one," Billy replied.

Avalon smiled and ducked her head to look through the First-Aid Kit. If she noticed Zack nudging the others and their obviously hasty exist of the dino lab, she didn't show it on her face. Instead, she looked through the it before finding a bottle of rubbing alcohol. She picked up a cotton swab and pressed it the opening of the bottle. "M'not going to lie, mate, this is really going to hurt."

"Can't hurt more than anything we've already been through," Billy said. Still, he couldn't help but tense all of his muscles as Avalon raised an eyebrow and pressed the cotton ball to his wound. He sucked air through his teeth and curled his fingers around the edge of the medical table. "Then again, I could be wrong."

"The great Billy Cranston is wrong?" Avalon teased. "Alert the media."

"I've been proven wrong before," Billy said. He didn't say anything further but the implications of his statement shot through Avalon's head. She had a feeling she knew what he was talking about. It seemed to be the elephant in the room with them now. And yet, she'd only mentioned something to Zack, who had clearly said something to Tommy so as far as she knew…Avalon shook her head. Billy wasn't dumb. "And I've made my share of mistakes."

Avalon's gaze flickered up his eyes to find him watching her, but she didn't respond. Instead, she picked up a package and ripped it open with her teeth. She spit the last piece of plastic aside and tore open the bandage, pressing it against Billy's shoulder to unravel the other end. He brought his hand up to press against the wound, laying his hand over hers to hold it still.

Pressing her lips together, Avalon looked aside trying everything in her power to keep her knees from going weak. "What's it like?" She finally asked.

Billy's eyebrows rose. "To admit I've made a mistake? That's not hard, you don't grow if you don't—"

"—What's it like having Zeltrax be a part of you, boofhead?" Avalon interrupted. She carefully wrapped the bandage around his shoulder, her fingers dancing over his skin. She smiled to himself, noticing the goosebumps that formed. "Trent's dad and Tommy's friend, Anton,…he's Mesogog and no one can determine if he's really in there or…"

"He's in there," Billy said, nodding. "When I was Zeltrax or I was me, the other person was in there and you could tell. You could feel the other person. You could feel their consciousness trying to get back to what they thought was real." He turned his head and, frowning, watched her movements. "You feel all the pain inflicted and all the same you're watching the other person do things that are out of your worst nightmare. The worst thing I've ever done was able to sit back and watch as Zeltrax continued to fight you guys. And I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize for that, mate, it wasn't your fault. It's not like you could control any of it."

"It's not lie you had any control over what you were doing with the Vipers and you still blame yourself for it."

Billy's words made Avalon pause. She hadn't realized anyone else would notice it was what she was doing. She'd said to the other rangers, finally, some of the things that Chase had done to her but had never gone into details with anyone but Billy. He'd been the one she explained in excess detail why she hadn't left the Vipers even when she had the chance. There were too many risks that were to be taken and at that time she couldn't handle those risks.

 _So what's so risky now?_ She thought.

Billy smiled. "I think that's the first time I've ever heard you speechless."

"Mm, not the first time," Avalon murmured. Then hated herself for it, knowing he immediately knew her implication.

Billy sighed. "I need to tell you something."

"If it's something that you can tell me later, don't say it now," Avalon said quickly. She had no idea why her voice came out so nasty. Nerves maybe, she had an idea of what he was going to say. "I'm being serious."

That made Billy grin. "You never change, Ava."

"I'd hope not. I reckon, life would be fucking boring if I did. Can you imagine me being proper, not saying a curse at all, being pleasant. Not holding any grudges." Avalon tilted her head, thought for a moment, then shook it. "Nah, that'd be very boring."

"How many grudges do you still have?"

"Only the important ones." Avalon folded her arms. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I can hold a grudge for a long time."

"I have noticed, actually." He tilted his head and, almost shyly, looked up at her. A soft smile tugged at his lips. "I just hope they're ones you can get over."

Avalon's eyes searched his for a long, silent moment, then she smiled. "I'm not making any promises." Then she leaned in and ducked her head under Billy's. She pressed her forehead against his, pushing his head back enough so that she had a straight shot. Her nose bumped against his, she felt his breath on her lips and then her lips seamed with his.

Instantly, Avalon felt like she'd just come home after a long trip away. Completely relaxed, completely at peace. Warmth flooded her body when Billy reached up and pressed a hand to her neck, fingers digging into her skin. Fire. She always felt fire when she was with him, a simple touch burning its presence into her skin for hours on end.

Avalon grasped Billy's shoulders, holding him as firmly he did her. To make sure it was really happening. To make sure he was still there. To make sure he wasn't going anywhere, like everyone else in her life did.

She couldn't take it again.

* * *

Adam fell hard to the ground and curled himself up in a ball to make himself as small as possible. Goldar swung his sword down towards him and he rolled out of the way before flipping back to his feet. He summoned his Turbo Thunder Cannon and fired a few rounds towards him.

Tanya flipped overhead and took on Goldar herself. With powerful, high kicks she edged him backwards while Adam turned his attention back to the putties that surrounded them. Kat used her Power Disc to block the attacks Scorpina tried to hit her with, but that still didn't prove to be enough protection. Scorpina waited until Kat swung her arm aside and caught her across the chest with her sword.

"Ah!" Kat fell hard to the ground.

"Hang on, Kat," Aisha called to her. She and Rocky ran towards Scorpina and leapt to the air at the same time. Scorpina turned and caught them mid-air, pushing them back with a solid hit of her energy. Rocky flipped to his feet and then turned to Rito, who started to take him on.

Aisha, however, lay on the ground, an arm wrapped around her stomach. All the fight was gone from her the moment she landed stomach first on the ground. Fear shot through her body and she looked up, watching as the putties and monsters swarmed around them. They couldn't do this. Not like this. They needed _all_ of their friends to do it. They were too strong.

She wasn't strong enough.

Aisha wrapped both arms around her stomach and pushed back the urge to cry. She needed to get back to her feet, to keep fighting. It was part of her duty. But what happened when…no. She couldn't think about that. How many more times were they going to fight before they could live their life entirely without fear?

"Aisha!" She could hear Rocky's voice coming closer to her. "Aisha, come on!"

"No," Aisha whispered.

Rocky knelt next to her and grabbed her arm. "You're a sitting duck here, we have to get moving."

"I can't."

"What?" Rocky looked over his shoulder and got to his feet, kicking away putties that were coming closer to them. Once they were out of the way he knelt next to her, shielding her body with his. "I promise, I'll get you out of here, you just need to move."

"No, Rocky…" Aisha grabbed his arm. Looked deep in his eyes so he knew how serious she was. She's fight if she could. But she couldn't threaten everything. Her body, her mind, her guilt for years to come if anything happened… "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before…Rocky, I'm pregnant."

"What?" Rocky lowered himself to his knees, tightening his grasp on her arms. Despite the fighting happening around them, Rocky turned it all out. He stared at his fiancée, his eyes searching hers. Tears came to her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. Rocky swallowed hard. "Aisha—"

"Say goodbye, losers!" Rito cried and sent a blast of energy towards them from the tip of his sword.

Rocky growled and turned to face the attack but never got the chance.

The Lightspeed Rescue, Wild Force, and Time Force Rangers flipped overhead ran into the fight, protecting him and Aisha.

* * *

 **A/N:** Okay guys, we're going into the end of the story now…So, what's you think? Not just for BillyxAv but also Aisha's revelation as well. I had hinted at it for a while throughout the story so I don't know if anyone would've caught it, but you know it now. She's pregnant.

Thanks to **Adela and brankel1** for reviewing.

 **~Av**


	48. Chapter 48: Thunder Struck

**Chapter 48**

 _Thunder Struck_

* * *

Angel Grove and Stone Canyon were war zones.

It hadn't been too long since Astronema nearly leveled the entire city, Angel Grove had been in peace since then. Now that Mesogog had re-animated the monsters they'd fought before, it was obvious he'd overpowered them as much as he could. Everything the rangers threw at them was deflected as easily as waving away a bubble. With the Lightspeed Rescue, Wild Force, and Time Force teams did their best to aid the Zeo/Turbo rangers as they fought to protect their city as hard as they could.

But with Aisha's admission, she was unable to keep fighting, no matter how much she wanted to. Something that should've been a momentous occasion for the rangers was now something that was causing them more danger than they'd been in before. Without Aisha's power to help them, they were down a ranger and down a power source. Even then, the Astro Rangers were having a tough time taking on the Machine Empire up in space as much as they could but their communications was starting to become lacking.

It wasn't good.

They were slowly losing and there wasn't much the rangers could do before Mesogog was taken down. As it was, Reefside was almost as bad. A city-wide curfew had been put in place and Mesogog, Zeltrax, and Elsa were continuing to take on the city as much as they could. Conner, Kira, Ethan, Trent, Tommy, and Avalon continued to do their best as the biggest source of power against the monsters that were thrown out while the Mighty Morphin' team used their power against the Tyrannodrones. It seemed to be working but there was only so much that could be done before Mesogog finally decided to unleash his plan.

And, unfortunately for the rangers, that day had come.

"In only a matter of hours, we'll have Reefside and the rest of the world in our hands," Mesogog said to Zeltrax and Elsa as they knelt before him. "The people of Earth will join me. With the transfiguration beam we'll be sure to keep take them down."

"But, sir, you'll need the Dino Gems to do it," Elsa pointed out. "And I don't believe the rangers are going to give them over willingly."

Mesogog nodded. "That's where _you_ come in."

Elsa smiled.

* * *

Tommy smiled and nodded at his students as the class ended and they spilled from the room. His eyes shifted over to the rangers as they slowly put their things together, knowing he wanted to talk. It was more than wanting to talk, he wanted to get into their headspace, to know how they were feeling about the whole thing. There was only so much they could do with loss after loss and he wanted to make sure they weren't beating themselves up over it.

Their fights were starting to become more difficult and he knew that meant Mesogog was starting to work on the latest of his plans. It was the way things worked all the time, so much so he could practically set his watch to it. They were ready to take him on, they just needed to know it for themselves. Tommy waited until the last student left the room before he closed the door behind them and sent a text message.

Seconds later, Avalon teleported down into the classroom and hopped onto Tommy's desk, gently kicking her legs back and forth as she rested her hands in her lap. "How ya going?" She asked, watching s the rangers moved closer.

"Well, I think I speak for everyone when I say not so great," Conner said as the rangers moved closer to him. He ran a hand through his hair. "We've been getting our asses handed to us every time we fight, dude. It's been _weeks_ since we've won anything."

Avalon chuckled. "Yeah, that's going to happen," she said. "And it'll keep happening until we figure out what Mesogog is going to do. So you'll have to get used to it."

"And that's why we decided to talk to you guys today," Tommy added. He pulled off his glasses and put it aside on his desk. "We wanted to see where your heads are. To get an idea of what you were thinking as you went into this." He motioned to Conner. "Was he correct in what he said?"

Bailey shrugged. "I've been doing this as long as you guys and even I'm starting to think we'll never take this bloke down."

"Yeah, isn't there somewhere we can go and just let him do what he wants?" Kira asked.

"It'd be a lot less painful than the spanking we've been getting," Ethan added. Trent shot him a look and Ethan shrugged defensively. "What? You all were thinking it, too."

Tommy smiled. "Well, I wouldn't quite put it like that, but, yes, we have been getting defeated time and time again. But this is the point that you dig deep and continue to realize that you were given—"

"Blah, blah, blah, we were given the power for a reason and we need to make sure we still hold faith in it," Conner interrupted, making Tommy's smile turn wry. Kira elbowed him hard in the arm and Conner followed up with, "No disrespect, Dr. O, but how do you expect us to get through this? It's hopeless."

"Hopeless is if you're given a death sentence," Tommy said calmly. "This isn't a death sentence, this is a setback." He started to pace back and forth. "You get through this the same way you get through everything else." He leveled his eyes on Bailey. "By talking about it. I finally have been able to most past my parents' death, making peace with it, by talking about it. I know I waited too long and now I've gotten it out in the open I can start to heal and move on from it."

Avalon nodded. "It's the same for me, talking about Chase and the Vipers," she added. Bailey nodded but the rangers looked confused. "It's a long story, but I used to be in a gang. Now, in a few months, they want me to testify. Everything about the Vipers has haunted me since I got to Angel Grove and now I can finally put it behind me." She motioned between herself and Tommy. "If we're able to get past this stuff, you can get past a difficult villain hellbent on taking over the world."

"Wait!" Bailey held up her hand then pointed at her sister. "You have to testify?" Avalon nodded. "When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me? Are you lying about my name, too?"

"When we went back to Angel Grove and I visited David is when I found out," Avalon explained. "And I didn't tell you because I was trying to keep you safe. And, Bay, your name actually is _Bailey._ Well, I mean, it's one of your middle names, but—"

"Av, I would've been safer if you hadn't gotten mixed up with the Vipers in the first place," Bailey pointed out.

Avalon lifted an eyebrow. "So you _liked_ sleeping on the street and begging people for money?"

"We can finish this episode of Family Feud later," Kira interrupted. She heaved a sigh so heavy her bangs blew off her forehead. "There's something about the Earth potentially being blown up that we have to worry about now."

"Or whatever else it is that Mesogog is up to," Trent added.

"And that's a good thought to have," Tommy said. "Staying focused on the topic at hand. But you can't let yourself go crazy about it. You're still kids. You're allowed to think about other things than just Mesogog. Homework, hanging out, dating, Prom. Prom is coming up, it's supposed to be fun."

"Yeah, if you're not worried about a giant monster food crushing the school," Ethan dead-panned. He smiled and rubbed his chin. "Actually, that'd be pretty cool." Conner, Kira, Trent, and Bailey all whacked him on the arms at the same time. "Ow! Look, in times of crisis we're not supposed to turn on each other, remember?"

Tommy and Avalon laughed.

"What's so funny?" Trent asked.

"Nothing, just…you remind us of how we used to be," Avalon said. She nodded to Kira. "You're like Kimberly and Trini combined. A graceful girl who has as much power in her fist than she does in her heart."

"And Ethan, you're so much like Billy. Excited about everything that can be discovered and studied," Tommy said. "Wanting to learn everything you possibly can." Then his gaze shifted to Trent. "And you're like me. New and feeling as if you don't fit in until you met a group of friends who were everything you could ask for and more. And, you know, there's that whole evil power thing."

"Conner, you're Jason and Zack," Avalon said. "You're a fierce leader and understand when tough decisions have to be made, but you know when to have fun, too. It's a good balance to have and has made you a great part of this team." Then she looked at Bailey. "I'd hope, despite all of the mistakes I've made, that you continue to look up to me as not just a big sister but as a friend, too. I can see a lot of myself in you, but you've got it better. You're a better person than I am and I'm very proud of you."

Bailey smiled and nodded.

"And if we've been able to handle these things, over and over again then you can handle this, too," Tommy said. He thought for a moment and started to say something else, but stopped when the door to the classroom burst open.

The rangers all turned to find Principal Randall slowly making her way into the room, her eyes shifting over the rangers' faces with massive distrust and disgust. With a delicate finger, she pushed her glasses up her nose. "Dr. Oliver, I haven't authorized you to have a meeting with any students. I'm sure you know there are cases of conduct between students and teacher that have to be followed and you are in violation of that conduct." Then she looked at Avalon. "And you don't seem to have a visitor's pass so you are trespassing on campus."

"Principal Randall, I was just finishing giving a lecture about how students are to handle Prom night and staying safe," Tommy said. Then he realized the implications of his statement and he held up his hands. "I mean in terms of drinking and driving."

Principal Randall's eyes narrowed and her upper lip curled. "Be that as it may, I have to write you up. This is something that we need to speak about very seriously…" she looked at the teenagers, who quickly looked away from her, not wanting to be stuck under her interrogating gaze. "Now, I need—" She suddenly cried out and grabbed the sides of her head. She fell to her knees and a blast of light encompassed her. When it passed, Elsa knelt in her place.

"What?" Conner asked.

"No way!" Ethan added, eyes wide.

Tommy immediately fell into a fighting stance. "I knew there was something I didn't like about you."

"I was wondering how long I could pull this off," Elsa replied.

"I have to admit, we should've seen it," Tommy said.

Elsa smirked. "I already have the power of one of your Dino Gems but Mesogog won't be happy until we have them all." She snapped her whip. "Hand them over and you can go peacefully!"

"Fat chance," Conner snapped back. He held up his wrist, dino morpher appearing. "Are you guys ready?"

"Re—"

"No!" Avalon interrupted. She tilted her head towards the door. "Chances are, this is a distraction for some other monster or something Mesogog has planned. You guys go and we'll handle her."

"Are you sure?" Trent asked.

"Positive," Tommy replied.

"Okay," Conner agreed. "Let's go!" He, Kira, Trent, and Bailey immediately raced out of the classroom, leaving Tommy and Avalon behind.

Elsa snarled at Tommy and Avalon. "Are you willing to give up your Gems or are we going to have to do this the hard way?" Tommy and Avalon didn't respond. They waited for Elsa to make the first move. She reacted quickly, shooting her whip forward. It cracked against Avalon's arm, which she lifted to shield herself, flaying her skin off her arm. Blood started to drip before Avalon healed herself and she and Tommy flew in to fight Elsa.

They ran back and forth across the classroom, knocking over tables and chairs as they crashed through the room. Elsa fought against them as hard as she could, easily fending herself off against the rangers as they charged back and forth across the classroom. Word must've gotten out, or the rangers had warned them, for a fire alarm went off and they could hear the footsteps of students racing out of the school as fast as they could go.

Then they heard the warning message.

 _Students, the mayor has declared the city in a state of emergency. School is closed. Please remain calm, gather your things, and get home as safely as possible as soon as possible._

Elsa caught Tommy and Avalon off-guard as they stopped to listen to the message. She kicked Tommy hard in the chest before doing the same to Avalon, knocking the two clear across the classroom. Tommy fell into his chalkboard and slid to the ground while Avalon crashed into a couple of tables and flipped over.

"Looks to me like Mesogog is finally going to destroy your precious city," Elsa said smugly, standing above them with her hands on her hips. "I hope you can live with the guilt of not being able to save these puny humans."

"These 'puny humans' are doing more than you ever will," Tommy glared.

"We'll see about that!" Elsa charged towards them once more but in the middle of the room was sucked up by an Invisiportal.

Tommy lowered his hands to his side, eyes shifting back and forth. "Mesogog must've called her back," he realized. "This was a distraction, we need to get to the others."

"Now," Avalon agreed before the two raced from the room.

* * *

Elsa dropped to her knees in the middle of Mesogog's lair. She stood up and marched over to Mesogog, gritting her teeth. "I almost had them!" She spat. "There was nothing more they could do! I would've had those Gems! _Why_ did you pull me away?"

Zeltrax stood silently aside as Mesogog turned on his heel and hissed at Elsa. "There's no time to waste," Mesogog said. "My Transfiguration beam needs power and without the Dino Gems in my possession, I'll need to start with the power I've given you!"

Elsa's eyes widened as she took a step back. "Master, I've been by your side since the beginning. How could you do this to me?"

"Easily," Mesogog said. He snapped his clawed fingers and Zeltrax surged forward behind her. Elsa whipped out her sword and the two attacked each other. Mesogog watched as they flew back and forth across the lab, screaming and grunting with effort. "Zeltrax, take her down!"

"As you wish, my lord," Zeltrax said. He held his sword overhead and slashed towards Elsa. Elsa defended herself with her own sword. However, she was too close to Zeltrax, who sent a blast of energy into her. She flew across the lab and crashed to the ground, where Mesogog walked over and stomped his foot onto her back.

Elsa struggled to get away as Mesogog walked closer. "Master?"

"Grab her."

Zeltrax grasped Elsa's arms and forced her over to the same chair and restraints that Tommy had been stuck in long before. He forced her down and the restrains immediately covered her arms and legs, holding her down. Frantically, Elsa started to wiggle back and forth, trying to get out of her restraints. Her sword fell to the ground.

"Now, back away."

"As you wish, master."

Mesogog walked over to the control panel that held a lever and pulled it. Elsa's eyes widened as the ceiling panels opened and a laser slowly worked its way down towards her. "Try not to move." He pressed the button net to the lever and Elsa's screams filled with lab as her energy and power was pulled from her in waves of purple light. She disappeared in a flash, making Mesogog lower his hand from the lever.

"Now that she's out of the way, we can move forward." Mesogog nodded towards Zeltrax. "Make sure she doesn't get away."

* * *

"Tommy!" Jason called as soon as Tommy and Avalon arrived back at the dino lab. "You need to take a look at this."

"Wait until you hear this," Avalon said. She folded her arms. "Elsa attacked us at school."

"Elsa?" Kimberly frowned.

"Yeah, it seems that Principal Randall was actually Elsa in disguise," Tommy said. He ran a hand through his hair and went over to the computer his friend stood around. "It explains how they were able to follow our moves this entire time." He nodded towards the computer. "What's going on?"

"Angel Grove and Stone Canyon are slowly falling," Hayley explained, showing them pictures of the two cities. Avalon frowned, almost glared when she saw the destruction that had become of her home for her teenage years. "There are multiple ranger teams helping out, now even the Ninja Storm team has moved to help but it's not working. Whatever it is that Mesogog is doing, he's starting it now and we need to stop him."

"And it's going to get even worse," Jason said. He nodded towards the other computer screen. "Zeltrax is back and he's got some woman with him. We're not quite sure who it is, but Zeltrax isn't alone. Nightmare is there, too."

"That must be the monster Elsa was trying to distract the rangers with," Trini said, silently chewing her nails. "We'd gotten readings about it all morning but couldn't get a pinpoint on the monster."

"Nightmare can move like a literally nightmare," Avalon explained. "Hard to detect unless his power is being used to create agony and fear in the person they're targeting."

"We're going to go down and stop them, right?" Zack asked.

Tommy nodded. "We'll have to do something," he agreed. "We have to save the residents of the city and then we can find Mesogog's lair and defeat him once and for all. We can't have Reefside turn out like Angel Grove and Stone Canyon. They can handle it."

"I got into contact with Justin," Billy said. "He's gotten information from NASADA on the Astro Rangers. They're failing as well. There's not much time or resources they have left. All of these monsters are being controlled by Mesogog as he's made copies of them. Once Mesogog and his lab are destroyed, they're gone."

"Okay, then we'll have to move fast." Tommy and the rangers started to move but he held out his hand and grabbed Billy by the shoulder. "Billy, we need you to stay here."

The blue ranger's eyes widened in surprise. "What? Why?"

"Zeltrax may want to take you down specifically, making it harder for us to stop him and Nightmare. We don't know if something happens to him it'll continue happening to you and if we kill him, because you're that close…" Tommy swallowed hard, unable to finish his sentence.

"I don't mean to speak out of turn here," Zack said slowly. "But we all know the chances of what'll happen to us. We signed up for that as rangers. If anyone is going to decide what happens to Billy, it should be Billy."

Avalon eyed him warily. "Are you sure?" Her voice was almost a whisper, almost a plead for him to stay back and to stay in Hayley's care as they took down Zeltrax. But she knew Billy and knew he was someone who would never stand back and wait to see what happened.

"I'm sure, Ava," he said.

Tommy licked his lips and shook his head. No. He didn't want to risk losing his friends. Never again. But…it was like he said to Conner and the others. They needed to face things head on and talk about it. They talked about it and Billy still wanted to go. He was going to go.

"Alright, let's get going."

The rangers teleported down to Zeltrax and Nightmare at the same time Conner and the others arrived. They stood in front of Zeltrax, glaring at him as the woman he held hostage struggled against the arm wrapped around her throat.

"Let the woman go, Zeltrax!" Tommy said.

"You'll have to take her from me!" Zeltrax replied.

And the rangers raced forward to take on Zeltrax and Nightmare. To save their energy, they refused to morph as they fought. And while they fought, the two monsters continued to fend them off as easily as if they were bugs to be swatted away. Each time they hit one of the monsters they were easily countered and knocked over. Finally, they found it was time for them to morph.

"Guys," Tommy said. "You know what time it is."

"Ready?" Conner called.

"Ready!" Came the reply.

"It's morphin' time!" Jason called.

"Mastodon!"

"Pterodactyl!"

"Triceratops!"

"Sabertooth Tiger!"

"Tyrannosaurus!"

"Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!"

"Tyranno!"

"Tricera!"

"Ptera!"

"Drago!"

"Cephala!"

"Ankylo!"

Zeltrax grinned. "Puny rangers, that's exactly what I needed!" Zeltrax raced forward and one-by-one-made his way through the rangers with slashes of his sword. They fell by the wayside until he reached Billy and grabbed him by the neck of his suit. "And you're going to be the one to make sure these plans work!"

"Billy!" Trini cried.

"Let him go!" Kimberly added. She summoned her Power Bow and pulled back the back, aiming it directly at Zeltrax. "I've been meaning to work on my target practice!"

"Then deal with this!" Nightmare said. He lifted his front hooves high into the air and slammed them hard to the ground. The ground trembled with massive energy, knocking the rangers to the ground. The buildings around them began to sway and crumble, falling to rubble in seconds. Around them, alarms started to go off and screaming of residents of Reefside could be heard.

The rangers pitched to the ground, trying to stay up but found themselves pinned to the ground by Nightmares shockwaves. And much worse, with the surge in power he was able to hold the rangers in mental agony. Their fears played in front of them as the seconds passed.

Kira's parents continued to abuse her, Ethan was continuously beaten up by his bully, Trent was slowly dying due to his lupus with no one around to help him, Conner was verbally abused by his parents for being dumb. As for the other rangers, their fears played out even worse; Tommy saw the death of his parents over and over again saw them begging him to save them, Avalon saw herself being brutally attacked by the Vipers, Kimberly saw herself slowly losing her powers and lifeforce from when her time as a ranger ended, Jason saw himself leading his ranger team to their deaths in battle, Trini saw her family disowning her entirely, Zack saw all of the things he'd done that landed him in jail, Bailey saw herself completely and utterly alone as her sister died beside her, and Billy saw his mother's death at Diabolicco's hands.

Their nightmares kept them stuck to the ground, rolling around and screaming in pain as they held their hands to their heads, trying to knock the pain away. Zeltrax tightened his grasp around Billy's neck, making the blue ranger equally cry out in pain from his mental anguish to the pain of having his airways closed.

"Stop!"

Elsa, who had been flung aside, got to her knees and faced Zeltrax and Nghtmare with a snarl. She was no longer under Mesogog's control, but that didn't mean her anger wasn't justified. Her life had been taken away from her as long as she could remember, used as a pawn for a monster trying to take over the city and thrown away at the last second. Her anger wasn't towards the rangers anymore, betrayal was a vindictive emotion that only made the want of revenge that much stronger.

"What's the point?" Zeltrax asked her. "It's all over now."

He threw out his hand and sent a blast of energy into Elsa that knocked her to the ground. With his attention diverted, Billy summoned his Power Lance and jabbed it into Zeltrax's neck. He brought his hand up and grasped the side of his neck, feeling the pain immediately come. His screamed mixed in with Zeltrax's before he was thrown to the ground. Now out of Nightmare's mental grasp, Billy backed away, spun his Lance overhead and raced towards Zeltrax.

When he was close enough, Billy thrust the pronged end of his Power Lance into the ground and flipped himself up and over his evil counterpart and landed on the ground in a crouch. He spun his wrists and slashed Nightmare's side. Nightmare's eyes widened in surprise before a screaming-whiney escaped his mouth and he fell to the side. His hold on the rangers was immediately broken.

"Conner, I think now's the time to see what you can do," Billy called to him.

"You got it," Conner agreed. He held out his hand and a shield appeared. "Shield of Triumph!" Ethan, Kira, and Bailey stood by his side and lent their power to him. "Triassic Power! Battlizer!" One he was in the powered up form of his newfound powers, Conner didn't waste any time. "Fire Kick!" He leapt high into the air, his body becoming covered in flames. He flipped once and dropped back to the ground, sticking out his foot and crashed it into Nightmare's side.

Nightmare's eyes bulged even further as the dark hair of its coast started to glow orange from the inside out, small patches appearing on its skin. Then, with a final whinnying cry, Nightmare exploded in a ball of lightning that dissipated after seconds. He was gone.

"Now that's how you take down a monster," Conner said. He turned to face Zeltrax. "Now for you."

Zeltrax laughed. "You think this was all we had planned? Think again rangers, Master is going to succeed and Earth as you know it will be destroyed." He waved a hand and with a flash of a growing Invisiportal, a large zord-like creature appeared above the city, immediately turning to crash down onto other buildings nearby.

"The Zelzord!" Zeltrax declared, before turning to leap inside. "Come and face me, rangers!" said before shooting off a blast of red energy to the ground.

The rangers cried out and jumped out of the way before they could be hit by it. "Man, talk about a Plan B," Avalon said. "I've never seen any of these blokes have something like this up their sleeves."

"It won't be the first time and it won't be the last," Tommy said. He nodded to his teammates. "You guys call the Dino Zords to take this guy on."

"What about the rest of you?" Bailey asked.

"We'll go up to Mesogog's lair and deal with him," Jason said.

Conner, Kira, Ethan, Bailey, and Trent nodded and called for their zords before leaping inside, creating the Thundersaurus Megazord to fight against the Zelzord. With Tommy at the lead, he and the rest of the rangers raced forward and leapt towards the Invisiportal.

Mesogog leapt down from it before they could go through. With sharp slashes against Kimberly, Jason, Trini, Zack, and Billy, he caused them to power down, lying not he ground in pain before rolling his furious gaze to Tommy and Avalon.

* * *

On Eltar, Dulcea stood with her staff in hand, eyes closed in the middle of the chamber that held the Power Tube that gave the rangers their powers. She focused on the energies around her, eyes closing tighter as she focused in on the rangers and their struggles. On the fight they continued to struggle with since they had first taken the powers. The fight that had gone on long enough.

Lifting her staff, Dulcea stamped the bottom against the ground and a golden wave of energy shot around the room and circled around for a few long moments before flying out, disappearing in a blink.

"You can do it rangers," she whispered.

* * *

Bailey cried out as she fell against her purple command sphere. She placed her hands against it and shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut. Zeltrax's Zelzord was too powerful, it was obvious then. He had done too much damage to them as they fought. Nothing they did with the zords was going to take him down.

"Guys," she said. "We have to sacrifice the zords," she said.

"What?" Ethan gasped.

"Are you crazy?" Conner shot back.

Bailey growled. "We saw," she said. "We defeated him two times already and he came back. The power of all of the zords, if we sacrifice them all, that's the only thing htat'll take for it to go down."

"What about us?" Kira asked.

"It's what we said whenw e joined being rangers," Trent said. "We'd give anything to save the city. Wehther we live or die, we're not doing it alone."

"He's right," Bailey said. "Zords or not, we're still power ranger sand we're still going to protect this city." She looked over at Conner. He continued to hold onto his control sphere, staring straight down. "Conner!"

"Okay," Conner finally decided. "Activate self-destruct mode!" He started the sequence on the zords, being throwing this way and that as the zords continued to get buffeted by the strong winds of the attack the Zelzord buffted them with. "We have to get it closer!" He cried, hearing the warning klaxons start to go off.

"Conner, we don't have time!" Kira cried.

"We'll have to make time. If we're going to be sure Zeltrax and the Zelzord are taken down, we have to do this," Conner said.

Bailey took a deep breath. "No matter what," she agreed. "We're rangers. We can do this. We _have_ to do this."

"I just want to say," Trent said. "Thanks to you guys, I've had a life that I never had before. Ranger powers aside, having lupus sucks. I spent most of my time indoors, not talking to anyone. I haven't had many friends until I met you. Thank you."

"If it wasn't for you guys, my dad would still be hitting me," Kira said. "I don't…I don't know where we're going from here, but I could've been dead."

"I wouldn't have stuck up for myself if it wasn't for you guys," Ethan said. "I wouldn't have realized how strong I was."

"I never fit in with anyone until I met you lot," Bailey said. "I've always been too smart or too young. No one ever took me seriously. But you didn't treat me any differently."

"Without you guys, people would've just thought I was someone who could've only played soccer," Conner said. "That I wasn't smart enough or good enough for anything else. I know that's not the truth, now. I know…we can win!" With a scream, he charged the zords towards the Zelzord and once they were in the right path, slammed his hand against the control sphere.

A sonicboom of energy knocked through the rangers, punching them through the chest before a blinding wave of light swept them out of the zords and to the ground. Explosions rocks through the air their zords and the Zelzords blew apart, taking Zeltrax with it.

The rangers didn't have time to celebrate Zeltrax's defeat before turning to see Mesogog standing behind them. Conner motioned for Elsa and the Mighty Morphin' Rangers to get to safety before hurrying up to Tommy and Avalon's side where the Dino Thunder ranger team stood before their greatest enemy.

"You destroyed my plans of creating the perfect world," Mesogog snarled. "However, I was able to absorb enough energy to create my final transformation." With that, he started to grow, body hanging shape until he resembled a Tyrannosaurus-esque monster with the claws and tail to match.

"Whoa!"

The rangers all backed up, watching in horror as Mesogog slowly made his way closer to them. Every step he took forward was one they too back. This was the thing they always tried to take down. Now they had the chance, he was right there in front of them. He was making the cities they've lived in, their homes continue to get destroyed as the seconds passed. All so that he was able to hurt them every way they thought possible.

"You guys ready for one more battle?" Tommy asked. "This is what it all comes down to. Past or present, it doesn't matter. We're rangers and no matter what happens, we'll always be rangers. We lived and died by the power we were given, the responsibility we were to uphold to bring peace around the world. Our legacy will live on. Trent, I know this will be hard for you…your father may or may not still be in there. But this is something we have to do."

Trent nodded.

"So, I'll ask again." Tommy looked at his friends and family. "Are you ready?"

"Oh yeah," Avalon and Bailey said.

"Ready!" Conner said. "Tyranno Power!"

"Ready!" Ethan said. "Tricera Power!"

"Ready!" Kira said. "Ptera Power!"

"Ready!" Bailey said. "Cephala Power!"

"Ready!" Trent said. "Drago Power!"

"Ready!" Avalon said. "Ankylo Power!"

"Ready!" Tommy said. "Bracchio Power!"

"Dino Rangers!"

They summoned their weapons and charged towards Mesogog, narrowly missing the blasts of energy he sent their way. Whatever power it was that Mesogog had taken from them, he used it well. Every attack the rangers sent against him he would send back with twice a much speed to twice as much power. When they were close enough to him, Mesogog would strike them at point blank range with excruciating energy blasts that knocked them to the ground.

"Cephala Club!"

"Ankylo Axe!"

Avalon and Bailey flew through the air, aiming their weapons towards Mesogog. They landed on Mesogog but seconds later they were slammed to the ground with an influx of power. Tommy flipped overhead with Kira and Trent but were sent flying through the air with the energy blast that struck them. Conner and Ethan tried with the surge of power from super Dino mode but still weren't any effect.

Mesogog was too strong.

They weren't going to win.

"Unbelievable," Kimberly said from where she and the other rangers hid, watching the entire fight. She shook her head. "This guy is invincible."

"They can do it, Kim," Jason reassured her.

"They have to," Trini said.

"We've done it before, they can do it now," Zack agreed.

"We just have to have faith in them," Billy said.

Elsa nodded quietly, watching the battle unfold before them.

Tommy pulled himself from the ground and looked over at the rest of his team as they got to their feet, barely able to stand but still wanting to fight against the monsters before them. "Guys, we have to use all of our power," Tommy said. "It's the only way."

"Just like giving up our zords," Avalon agreed.

"If it's the only thing that'll do it, I'm all for it," Ethan said.

"We need to take them down," Kira said.

"Do it, Conner," Bailey said.

"Right!" Conner led the charge with the rangers grasping their Dino Gems and held it over head. Their spun their arms in a circle and held the Gems out in front of them. They all started to glow golden-orange with a much power the gems held. "I summon the power of the gems!"

"Dino Gems unite!" The team called in unison, the power going straight to their weapons. At the same time, they slashed it forward and with a rush of power, the golden-energy power raced forward and struck Mesogog.

With a brilliant display of power, Mesogog exploded, only leaving Anton Mercer lying unconscious on the ground in his place.

* * *

 **A/N:** Well, what did you think? I thought it was pretty cool and a good way to mix things together of what I had planned along with what the show had done.

Thanks to **SpecialK92, Adela, AliceLouiseVA123, and brankel1** for reviewing.

 **~Av**


	49. Chapter 49: New Beginning

**Chapter 49**

 _New Beginning_

* * *

The fight with Mesogog lasted a few hours, but the fights against Rita, Zedd, The Machine Empire, and Divatox lasted days longer. For almost three weeks the ranger teams from Mighty Morphin' to Dino Thunder fought tirelessly to protect their cities.

There were numerous casualties of civilians, buildings destroyed beyond belief, and those that had to move into homeless shelters. Emergency Evacuation protocols had bene put into effect but there were still those that hadn't managed to get out in time. Numerous were missing and the police force in Angel Grove, Stone Canyon, and other nearby cities worked tirelessly to find those deemed missing and to aid in other relief efforts.

FEMA missions, headed by Captain William Mitchell stormed into California as well. As the days went on and the monsters destroyed, the Power Rangers used their time to aid in finding those that were missing and helping rebuild. During the time of reconstruction and rebuilding, the rangers were awarded with their unending job to protect the city, even with years of silence from them.

Angel Grove, Stone Canyon, Reefside and the rest of the Earth would forever be grateful to the power rangers.

* * *

"Oh my God, I can't wait!" Kimberly squealed, clasping her hands together. She sat down in her plastic seat then seconds later jumped back to her feet once more to start pacing. Then sat back down seconds later. "This is the first baby any of us have had, can you believe it?"

Zack gave her a funny look. "It looks like someone didn't get the talk when they were younger." He shifted closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "You see, when two people really love each other…" He burst out into laughter with the rest of his friends as Kimberly elbowed him in the side and folded her arms.

Trini was the first to stop laughing. "It's so hard to believe it's been months," she said quietly, making the others sober up. "It seems like just yesterday…" She trailed off, looking over the parts of the hospital wing that were still under construction.

"From what we know, there's not much left that needs to be worked on," Adam said, fiddling with his coffee cup. "Most of the construction has been finished, most of the people that've been found…" He trailed off.

Beside him, Tanya nodded. "There's going to be a city-wide funeral and memorial service in a few days." The rangers nodded. There were enough people that hadn't been found, enough families that had given up in finding them, there were others that, no matter what, would never be found as there weren't enough _of_ them to be found. And as much as it haunted the rangers, it made them proud to know how hard they fought for their cities. "We're going to go but after that we've got to head out."

"Going back to New York?" Tommy asked, crossing his legs at the knee, arm resting around Kat's shoulders. Adam and Tanya nodded their confirmation. Tommy's eyebrows came together. "Weren't you just there?"

"I was," Tanya agreed. "But now I've got another showcase to do. My last one for a while."

"Then we'll be here to help out Rocky and Aisha," Adam said.

Jason grinned. "I already felt a little bad for how Rocky managed to tick Aisha off every now and then, but having a baby along with that?" He let out a low whistle. "I feel so bad for him when he says something stupid."

"And we know it'll happen," Kat agreed with a giggle. She covered her mouth with her hand. "No, seriously. Rocky's really stepped up for Aisha since finding out she was pregnant. He's just as excited as the rest of us, yeah?" She ran a hand through her hair.

"Not as much as Aisha," Kimberly pointed out, wagging her finger.

"Well, I think that'd be obvious considering, y'know, she's going to be a mother," Zack pointed out.

"Well, yeah, for that, but I mean for their wedding, too. I'm glad they finally set the date. And it'd be even better because they can have their daughter there, too." Kimberly looked at her watch. "Ugh, I wish we could see."

"You really need to learn how to be patient, Pinkerbell," Avalon commented as she walked over, pressing her cellphone to her shoulder. "A baby waits for no one. And I should know, yeah? Mum was in labor with Bay for twenty hours." She laughed when Jason, Tommy, and Zack all winced, leaning away from her. "I can't wait to see what happens when you lot get pregnant. Your reactions will be beauty."

"Yeah, well, that won't be for a little while," Adam said quickly while Tanya winked at him. He lifted his eyebrows and shook his head before turning his attention back to Avalon and lifting his chin. "Who are you talking to?"

"Oh!" Avalon's eyes lit up for a moment. "I'm talking to Skull." She put her phone back to her ear and said, "If there's anything else you can do to help, we'd like as much information as possible moving forward. Okay, so how's Sharkie and Bulk?" She smiled. "That'd be about right. Say 'hi' to Spike for me. I can't be Auntie Av if you don't do that simple thing for me. Okay, I'll talk to you later, Hoo roo." She hung up and slid her phone into her pocket and said to Tommy, "Skull said he'll send a packet of information over as soon as he finds all the necessary files."

"Okay, got it," Tommy said. He removed his arm from around Kat's shoulders and rubbed her hands together. "It shouldn't be too long until we figure out what's going to happen to Mr. Ford, with Bulk, Skull, and Lt. Stone's help, we should get some more information to Mr. Scott," he nodded to Jason who nodded back. "And then we can get the best care for Kira after that."

"Is she still staying with the McKnights?" Zack asked.

"No, actually. Cassidy and her parents opened their home to her and she's been staying there now," Tommy said. He laughed, shaking his head. "Trust me when I say that's the last thing I ever expected. Almost as weird as if Jason or I were to stay with Bulk and Skull."

"Thing change," Jason pointed out. He reached up, rubbing the back of his neck. It hadn't been the same since before their fight with Mesogog. A strong blast that sent him to the ground wrenched his neck a bad way. The other rangers didn't fare so much better. Broken bones they had to heal, pulled muscles, deep bruises, scars...things that years of physical therapy would only fix.

"Yeah, and we're living proof of that," Trini agreed. She tapped her fingers together, a peaceful smile coming to her face. "We're not the same people we used to be when we started. There's so much we needed to learn from being a ranger and from life as time went on. And I think that's the best lesson we could learn."

"Look at Sunny, getting philosophical on us again," Avalon teased. She crossed her arms. "Actually, I missed it a lot. Trust me when I say that Tommy isn't the best company to have when you're trying to get some advice." Tommy looked offended while Avalon pointed at him with his thumb. "You know how many times he put me off just to get some fucking grading done?"

"I don't know, Av, isn't grading kind of important?" Zack asked.

"Thank you!" Tommy said.

"It is," Avalon agreed. "But to use it as an excuse _every_ time? No, mate, I call bullshit on that. But, I can't ask for small favors. I'm just glad he remembers to do it now." The rangers laughed so hard they didn't notice the doctor coming up to greet them.

"Aisha and Rocky are ready for you to come visit," He said with a bright smile. "Everything went okay. The baby is fine, Aisha is fine, and they can't wait for you to meet."

"Finally!" Kimberly squealed, clasping her hands together. "Let's go!" She grabbed the bouquet of balloons that sat beside her and led the way to the hospital room. Kat knocked gently on the door and waited for Aisha and Rocky say it was okay to come in before they ducked inside.

"Heyy," Kat greeted quietly. She went over to Aisha and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek then went to Rocky to give him a hug before looking at the tiny bundle that rested in Aisha's arms. "Aww, she's so little."

She had a cashew colored complexion and from where she stood, Kat could see her facial features favored Aisha a little bit more, but could also see Rocky in there as well. Her lips pursed, pulling in and out as if sucking a pacifier, eyes still tightly closed.

"You'd think with how much Rocky eats she'd be a bit bigger," Zack joked. "I mean, Rocky's as skinny as a rake, it had to balance out somewhere."

"Boy, you're bout to get yourself beat," Aisha said quietly. "Don't diss my baby like that."

"I'm not dissing, I'm saying the truth. I was a chubby baby and I turned out fine."

"Uh, Zack, it doesn't look like you're digging yourself out of this hole, so I reckon I'd stop trying, mate," Avalon said. She gave Rocky a hug as well and studied the baby herself while their friends passed around their hugs and marveled at the first baby of their group.

"Don't leave us in suspense," Trini said. "What's her name?"

Rocky smiled. "We decided to name her Camila. Camila Rose DeSantos."

"Aww, that's so cute!" Kimberly said. She held out her arms. "Let me hold her. We have to let her know who her aunts and uncles are."

"Trust me, she could never _not_ know," Rocky said. "There's too many of you for her to forget." He ran a hand through his hair and smiled. "But, seriously guys, thank you for everything you've done. For helping 'Sha get to appointments for helping me get to _mine_ , making sure we had everything we needed. Throwing a baby shower…seriously, I don't know what we would do without you guys."

"Hey, we're a family," Jason said. "No matter what, you're stuck with us."

Avalon smiled then started to back out of the room. Jason noticed and called out to her. "Hey Av, where you going? Or are you afraid you'll drop her or something?"

"Fat chance, Rudolph," Avalon shot back, making him roll his eyes. "Billy's being released. I was going to tell him that his first niece was born."

"That's great," Trini said with a bright smile. "He's been in the hospital for a long time."

"That's what happens when your life force was connected to a monster that blew up," Avalon pointed out. She quickly waved to her friends before leaving the room. Whether it was to get to Billy faster or to keep away from the knowing looks her friends gave each other, she wasn't sure. Either way, it didn't help.

* * *

Billy had just finished zipping up his gym bag when he heard a knock at the door. Oh great, the nurse was back. She was very friendly, but sometimes there was such a thing as _too_ friendly. Especially when she knew how many times he had to be assisted to go to the bathroom and dressed. He wasn't stupid, he knew a case of infatuation when he saw one, but the nurse was certainly too old for him to even consider it.

"I assure you, Nurse Reynolds, I don't need any help going to the bathroom," Billy said.

"I'd hope so, mate, or else that's too much information I need to know," Avalon joked, walking into the room. Billy smiled at her, bringing his bag from the bed to rest on the floor. Her eyes zeroed in on his bag. "Looks like you were ready to get out of here."

"More than a month is enough to stay in a hospital," Billy pointed out, stretching his arms. His back cracked and popped as he did so, relaxing from how long he'd been sitting in a hospital bed. "Especially when you know the reason why you were there but couldn't exactly tell the doctors." He lifted his eyebrows. "How do you get them to believe your life force was added to a monster's and it nearly killed you?"

"Well, I reckon if you started off by saying you were a power ranger…" Avalon said. She chuckled when he looked at her critically. "Boofhead, I'm kidding. But that's something we have to think about if we're ever going to move forward in life, yeah?"

"Well, it shouldn't be too hard," Billy reminded her. He nodded to the silver bracelet that sat on her wrist ."Just show them the Dino Gem and you'll be fine. Or show them how fast you can heal."

 _I can't heal from everything,_ she thought. But instead of saying it out loud she said, "True." Silence stretched between the two and to break through it, Avalon reached out and grabbed the clipboard that held Billy's information. She nervously fiddled with it, what made her so nervous about him? It was so much easier being angry. Or else it was the unsaid things. The things that were waiting to burst out of her. Avalon's eyes widened as she looked over something written on the form and turned it around so he could verify it for her. "Your full name is William Randall Wadsworth Cranston?"

"Yes." Billy blinked in surprise, realizing the change in conversation topic. He let out a light laugh. "My middle names are after family members. Is yours any better?"

"Uh, yeah. It's Cadence Avalon Lily Mitchell. If you ask me, that's heaps better."

"Alright, you win that bet." Billy laughed. He tilted his head, looking at her curiously. "Though I can't believe that you wanted to come by to talk about my name."

"What makes you say that, mate?"

"Boring conversation topic. Plus, I like to think I know you better than that." He paused. "Or that I did." Avalon winced. "Was there something else you wanted to speak about?"

Avalon's eyes narrowed. "I hate it when you do that," she said before letting out a sigh, running a hand through her long hair. "Yeah, there's something I wanted to talk about. Oh! First, Aisha had her baby and we're all in to see her." Billy nodded but didn't move, still knowing it wasn't what she wanted to talk about. "Actually, mate, I was thinking about your mum."

Billy's eyes widened slightly. "That's a peculiar topic to want to talk about," he pointed out. "Honestly, I haven't thought of her in a long time. Once things with Diabolico finished up…" he shook his head. "I haven't thought of her in a while," he repeated.

"Neither have I," Avalon said. "Until I saw Rocky's and Aisha's baby. It was weird to think that one of us, one of us rangers has a kid. I mean, getting married and all that, that's cool. It was bound to happen, but have a kid?" She gave a wry smile. "I thought I'd be dead before I saw any of that happen. So I thought of everyone we'd lost over the years and, of course, your mum came up." She scratched her forehead. "That was one of the toughest things we'd had to get through and we did that. We had to come from the toughest fight ever and we did that and things have gotten better. I thought about all that and how I feel now. Am I happy? Sad? I've found I'm really missing a lot in my life."

"And?" Billy pressed.

"And that's my own fault. I kept a lot of things quiet and didn't ever allow myself to move forward. Now that I'm going to testify it's like the last thing that's been holding my life back is gone. Until I realized one other thing." Avalon twisted her fingers together, a humorous juxtaposition to the confident way she looked him in the eye. "That...the happiest I've been in life...was when I was with you."

Billy licked his lips. He looked away for a moment. His heart started to race, mind filling in with memories of years before. Memories of how they always moved in to protect each other, even when they weren't together. Even when they weren't speaking. Then when she'd kissed him in the dino lab. She'd claimed she was afraid he'd die and she wouldn't have the chance to do it again, but as far as he knew it was a lie. Burgeoning feelings always had a way of showing up when others least expected it.

How ironic it was happening at the moment.

"Last time we spoke you said you were angry about my leaving," Billy pointed out when he finally found his voice.

"Oh no, I'm still mad about that," Avalon said honestly. "And I'm probably going to be mad about that for a long while. But…like I said, mate, I was happiest when I was with you. And now that things are calming down for us, I thought, maybe, we could at least try talking again and see where things go from there."

Billy slowly smiled. Then he said calmly, not to betray the feeling of his beating heart, "I think that'd be fine."

* * *

"Okay, here are five seaweed smoothies," Trent said, placing the tray in the middle of the table. He laughed, noticing Conner's, Kira's, Ethan's, and Bailey's faces of disgust. "Yeah, I know, it sounds like it'd be bad. But trust me, it's one of the best smoothies we've sold." He motioned towards the front counter where Hayley fielded the shouts of crazed customers.

"Well, it's good to know you'll get a few other customers because that's one I'll never bother trying," Conner said, pushing his cup aside. "Anyone else—" He jumped when Ethan grabbed his and immediately stuck the straw in his mouth. "Dude, you could've waited for me to finish."

"This stuff is the bomb," Ethan replied once he swallowed. "You don't want to miss out."

"See? You've got at least one customer," Bailey said. Trent laughed and sat down along with them. "So, you're still working here? I thought since your dad's recovered that you'd be spending as much time with the bloke as you could."

Trent shrugged modestly. "Yeah, well, let me tell you, having my dad around is weirder than I thought it'd be," he said. "I mean, I've always wanted him to be more involved and trusting and _want_ to know what I'm doing…but now that he's taken sabbatical from work, he's really starting to drive me crazy."

"In a good way, I hope," Kira said.

"Yeah, definitely in a good way." Trent shook his head. "I really thought we were going to lose him. Being split form Mesogog after that last battle…? I thought he was too far gone. I was prepared for it. Fighting against Mesogog and knowing it was him was hard but…" He shrugged again. "We had to do it, I'm glad it worked out well.

"So what are you doing now that he's on Sabbatical?" Kira asked.

"Well, he's listening to me wanting to go to art school so we're going to be visiting those over the next couple of weeks," Trent said. Conner's eyes widened in horror. "Relax, I'll be back in enough time for Prom and graduation."

"I never thought you'd be the kind of guy that would take pro so seriously, mate," Bailey pointed out.

Conner shrugged and smiled a suspiciously shy smile. She'd never seen him be so worried about anything before, let alone being a leader to their ranger team. But to see him be nervous over something like a dance? That just didn't compute.

"What?" Bailey asked.

That was a lie, that _had_ to be a lie. Or else their fight against Mesogog had been the straw that broke the camel's back on his impending maturity. They'd all been put through the wringer since then. And, if her eyes weren't playing tricks on her, it helped push him forward so that he could finally come a step closer to telling Kira how he really felt. They were close, she could tell. Just as close as Kira was to getting her life back together; her parent had been arrested and were being charged with child abuse and even Ethan had grown stronger, able to stand up to anyone and anything that'd gotten in their way.

But what about her?

"Nothing." Conner tried to sound convincing but wasn't quite making it. He cleared his throat and rubbed his check. "Just, before, there was never anyone I really wanted to go with." He shifted his gaze to Kira under the guise of looking out the window just behind her and Kira caught his gaze, blushed, and changed the subject. Bailey, Ethan, and Trent exchanged knowing glances but decided to let them change the subject.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm actually looking forward to school," Kira said, drumming her fingertips on the table. "The whole destruction of some classroom is terrible but…kind of glad classes are going to be easier. Now that things are quiet, we don't have to stress so much and things should be normal."

"Normal as in…?" Ethan pressed. Conner, Bailey, and Trent all whacked him on the arms and he winced, backing away from his friends. "Ow! What? I wasn't going to mention the whole…thing." He waved his hands. "I was just asking."

"It's okay, Ethan," Kira said. She sighed. "Living with Cassidy is…weird. We haven't talked for a long time and now I'm supposed to live with her? But she's really calmed down and has actually been nice. It's _nice_ to talk to the girl I used to hang out with." She tilted her head. "I sort of miss being able to trade insults with her, though."

"Just wait," Conner said. "She'll come around eventually."

Noticing Kira's glare, Bailey held a hand over her mouth. "Conner, mate, I think you'll agree with me when I say you're a boofhead, and that, sometimes, you need to stop talking." She held out her and as Ethan gave her a high-five. For the next hour, they talked and joked with each other. Now that they didn't need to worry about monster fights anymore, they were able to relax and enjoy each other's company.

Then it was time to go to one of Conner's soccer games and as they left the Cybercafe, Kira nudged Bailey's arm and pointed up the street asking, "Is that Fred?"

Bailey followed her point and sucked in a deep breath, seeing Fred walking her way. She hadn't seen him in weeks. There were too many fights, too many logistics, too many reconstruction things to go through. Honestly, she'd managed to push thoughts of him out of her head. And now here he was again. Was she ready to see him?

"We'll just meet you there, alright?" Conner said before he and the rest of the rangers left. Bailey smiled, noticing Conner and Kira hang back towards each other, shoulders brushing against each other, arms sliding, before finally, _finally_ they held hands out of view of Trent and Ethan.

Bailey nodded mutely and waited for Fred to reach her. She had half a mind to call her friends back to comfort her but that would've been embarrassing. Little Bailey Mitchell unable to talk to her friend who she may or may nt love. The two smiled at each other, then paused. Unsure of what to do or say.

"Hey," Bailey finally greeted him.

"Hey," Fred replied.

Bailey twisted her mouth to the side, nervously ran her hand up and down her arm. Fred fiddled with the brim of his hat. Finally, Bailey spoke, tired of the silence stretching between them. "I was going to call you," she blurted. "But so much has been going on and I didn't know if we were okay and—"

"Bay, I really need to say this," Fred interrupted. Bailey nodded and closed her mouth. Waited. "I wanted to tell you this before but I really needed to figure things out. It was a surprise and then I didn't know what to say in response and then all of this ranger stuff happened and I couldn't get in contact with you because I didn't know if you were busy—"

"—Oh, I was—"

"—And I didn't know if you would still be talking to me. But I really need to say, Bay, that I've missed you while I was gone. I dated some other people but I missed you. Seeing you again is the best thing that's happened to me and I don't want to mess that up again." Fred licked his lips. "Bay, I love you, too."

Bailey beamed.

* * *

Tommy sat in his office, looking over the papers spread across his desk. Write-ups of the power rangers' work to save Reefside, Angel Grove, and other places ranger teams had been sat in clipping along the surface. Pictures of his friends over the years sat in frames along the perimeter of his desk, making him smile.

Hanging above his desk were his three degrees; his High School Diploma, Bachelors, Masters, and his PHD. All showing off the different stages of his life; where he was a carefree teenager, a hard working adult, to starting his teaching career. The three most important points of his life and the people that helped him get to be where he was.

There were many times he wondered if he was doing the right thing and now he knew for sure.

He was right where he needed to be and he wouldn't have changed the journey for anything in the world.

* * *

 **A/N:** One chapter left, thank you for all of the support as the stories went on.

Thanks to **SpecialK92 and Adela** for reviewing.

 **~Av**


	50. Chapter 50: The End

**50**

 _The End_

* * *

"Hey Trini, over here!" Kimberly called, waving her friend across the Cybercafé to her table. She grinned up at her, pulling her ponytail over her shoulder as she did so. "How was your weekend?"

Trini gracefully lowered herself into the seat next to Kimberly, pulling some of her hair behind her ears. "It was good," She said. "A little uneventful considering everything we've been through lately, but it was good. I'm going to travel back to Vietnam soon, got my tickets and everything already."

"Sounds great," Kimberly agreed. "You must be excited."

Trini smiled and shrugged. "I am now that I know we're going to be staying in a hotel this time. Even my parents have started to understand why I like to have my privacy." She laughed. "It's always fun, though. What about you? How was your weekend?"

"Amazing!" Kimberly splayed her fingers along the table. She couldn't keep the proud smile off her face. "My girls won their gymnastics competition and now we're headed to nationals." She placed a hand on her chest. "I've never been prouder in my life."

Trini raised an eyebrow. "You mean _other_ than when you convinced your mom to give you your first credit card?"

Kimberly laughed and winked at her. "You got it!"

"What's going on party people?" Zack announced his presence, dropping into the seat next to Trini. He looped his arm around Trini's shoulders and gave her a noisy kiss on the cheek, making her laugh and blush before bringing her hand up to grasp his. Jason and Tommy announced their arrival as well, though much quieter than Zack's exclamation that had brought the attention of others in the restaurant. Kimberly beamed at Jason and gave him a quick kiss, snuggling into his side as Tommy sat at the head of the table. "So, what are we looking at to each today? I need to cram for this test coming up and I need some good eats to do it."

"So your classes are going well?" Jason asked. At Zack's modest grin, he slapped his friend on the shoulder and said, "I told you going to get your degree was a good idea. And you thought I was crazy in suggesting you go."

"School has never really been his strong suit," Tommy pointed out with a grin.

"Oh yeah, Mr. I-Forgot-My-Books-Even-Though-They're-Right-In-Front-Of-My-Face," Zack shot back, making Tommy roll his eyes, though he was still smiling. Then he changed the subject, "But what about you? How're things going now that Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Trent are graduating?"

"And Bay, too," Jason said. He shook his head. "Man, I can't believe she's old enough to graduate. It seems like it was just yesterday she was so little, first becoming a ranger…"

"Yeah," Kimberly agreed. "Sometimes I wish I could go back and do it all again," she said. She looked around at her friends that sat around the table. "To meet you guys again and go on all of our adventures…I wouldn't give it up for anything in the world."

"Aww, you're going to make my cry," Zack said, drawing a line down from the corner of his eye to the side of his jaw. Then he nodded. "But seriously, I feel the same way. I can't imagine how long we've been doing this and what the rest of our lives are going to be…" He shook his head.

"There's plenty for us to experience as life goes on," Trini pointed out. "But we'll always have the memories."

"Yeah, until a new monster shows up and we have to get our powers back _again_ ," Tommy pointed out. His smile widened, almost mischievously. "That is, if we can't still use them."

"You mean you haven't tried?" Kimberly's eyes widened in surprise.

Tommy shrugged and shook his head. "I never saw the point, honestly. Besides, I've been too busy with summer classes and my students. But Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Trent have certainly been busy as well. Conner's been doing an amazing job in his soccer league. He's got some sponsors and it looks like he may be going pro soon. Kira's in New York with Tanya, as you know, working on her music career. Ethan's been working on projects with his coming professors at MIT and Trent and Anton are going to be finishing their travels soon and he's excited to be going to art school."

"See, we should've thought of doing things like that," Zack pointed out. "So that we didn't think we needed to go back to being rangers." He looked around the table at the skeptical and slightly offended looks that came his way. "Oh come on, guys, we all know that without our powers and without being rangers, we'd all die of boredom. We could start having kids and be in walkers and we'd still run out there to save the world," Zack pointed out. He started to laugh. "Can you imagine that?"

"You with gray hair?" Jason asked. "Sure. It's not a pretty picture." He laughed along with his friends then looked at his watch. "Hey, it's getting pretty late, I figured Billy and Av would've been here by now."

"Av said she needed to do something first, but then they'd be over right after," Kimberly said.

* * *

Avalon Mitchell smiled to herself as she stood in front of the Cybercafé.

She looked into the window, watching as her friends laughed and talked with each other. Her best friends. The people that hadn't given up on her right from the beginning. The very same people that she'd treated like crap when she first met them, all due to the secrets and lies she was holding onto. Now those secrets were gone and in the next few weeks would be forever.

She was going to testify and whatever outcome came from that she could face it. Just as long as it was over. Her friends would be by her side, she knew that for sure. Still, having stopped to confirm to Caine Scott, her lawyer, that she would indeed testify had been hard to do. It took a bigger step forward than she thought to do it, that push off the edge.

"Are you ready?"

Avalon tore her gaze from the window and looked over at her boyfriend. Billy smiled back at her, kind blue eyes searching hers. On her left, Bailey stood quietly beside her sister, hands in the pockets of her jeans. Waiting for Av's lead, like she always had. Bailey caught her sister's eye and gave a beaming grin. The little girl who had been the youngest of the rangers was now graduating soon and going off on her own, she'd grown into a much more confident young woman who loved her sister as much as she always had but was now carving a path on her own. Was Avalon ready for that? Honestly, she would always see Bailey as her baby sister and nothing else.

"Yeah, I'm ready," Avalon replied. She reached out and grasped Billy's hand in hers, squeezing it firmly in her own. "Try and stop me." Billy's eyes roved over her face, his eyebrows coming together as he studied her. "What?"

"Nothing," Billy said quietly, warmly. "It's just…you look happy."

Avalon grinned and winked back at him. "I _am_ happy. 100%." She squeezed his hand again, leaning into his side. She was going to testify against the Vipers and be free of them forever, her parents were going to be there to support her, Dana and Ryan as well, Baley was going to university soon, her friends were still her best friends, and she had someone she loved dearly by her side. 'Happy' wasn't a strong enough word. "Let's go."

And with that, Avalon walked into the Cybercafé with her head held high and nothing but excitement as she looked towards the future.

* * *

 **THE END**

* * *

 **A/N:** And that's the end. The absolute, complete end of the Avalon series. I really don't know what to say about it now. Honestly, there's not alot I want to say and so much I want to say. There's so so many people to thank and I don't even know where to start. I can't definitely thank **XoxMountainGirlxoX** since she'd been there to help me since the very beginning of my Avalon series and we've bounced ideas off each other for about 5 years at this point. Than you for being so supportive through it all. Thank you to everyone I've encountered along the way, **RedBlack-24, GenkiPlus, Brankel1, Lizziestrong, heartpunker123, Shorty112233, ToxicWednesday, mkmanley8, DragonEmperor999, Duggie Davenport, dguice, 25, ZackAttack1, Ashley, TerraHart, ZoeyBoey224, Pink Lightspeed Rescue Ranger, TommyOliverMMPRFan, grapejuice101, silverhawk88, Jetman21, Green-Extreme-Ninjetti-Ranger, ObsessedwReading, Confidential Author, The Color orange, ae11021, 1980sjfk, sweetredranger, Ms. Strange-Imagination, Saturday People,** and more.

You can continue to read about Avalon's and Bailey's adventure in the Bailey series that is still going on with _Headstrong_ that is currently set in Lightspeed Rescue (comes directly after Av's Turbo story _Ready When You Are). A_ nd now for the announce ment! I have a new series coming up soon. _The Amber series_ , following Amber Cranston, Billy's and Avalon's daughter as she traverses the world that is of rangering and ranger duties. I'm not sure when I'll have the first chapter posted, but it will be entitled _Stand Up_ and will be set in Megaforce.

For those that want to see the continuation of Billy's and Avalon's relationship, you need to read the Bailey series story _Get Up,_ set during Power Rangers Samurai to see how they get up to their wedding and everything in between. However, that story is not uploaded yet. I may post that one as it's a sequel to _New Beginning_ (withing both the Avalon and Bailey series) and continues it from there. Alert me or follow me on Twitter (AvalonAvenue) or tumblr (AvalonBayBlog) so you'll be the first to know when new stories are posted. I'll be continuing with the _Powerless_ series as well.

All I can say to everyone is thank you. Thank you for all of the support all the years and thank you for joining me on Avalon's and Bailey's journeys throughout this series. Thank you all again for following it for so long. You're all stars.

 **~Av**


End file.
